João Ramos do Nascimento (2 October 1917 – 16 November 1996), nicknamed Dondinho, was a Brazilian

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

centre forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on be ...

. He was the father, mentor and trainer of

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; 23 October 1940 – 29 December 2022), better known by his nickname Pelé (), was a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Widely reg ...

. During his own playing career, Dondinho played for a number of clubs, including

Atlético Mineiro Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico *Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy *Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic Cl ...

. He became known as "Maleável" due to his ability to score headers.

Club career

In 1933 Dondinho joined Atletico Mineiro playing for its youth section until 1935. He then started his senior career with Yuracan in the Itajuba championship. In 1940 he returned to Atletico Mineiro, but did not play a lot after suffering a serious knee injury.

Record

In 1938 Dondinho scored 5 goals with headers in Yuracan's 6–2 win against their arch-rivals Smart Futebol Clube in the 1939 regional Interior Championship of

Itajubá Itajubá is a municipality in southeastern Minas Gerais state of the Federative Republic of Brazil. It lies in a valley by the Sapucaí river and has terrain elevations ranging from 827 to 1500 metres, occupying an area of 290.45 km2 (112.14&n ...

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...

. His record has not been broken ever since by any player in the world while his son

was aiming to break it during his career. As he stated in 2015 this was one of his biggest regrets.

Death and tributes

He died of heart failure at the age of 79, on November 16, 1996. On September 15, 2012, the statue "Monumento ao Dondinho" was erected in the '' João Ramos do Nascimento Municipal Park'' in

Bauru Bauru () is a Brazilian municipality located in the interior of São Paulo state, recognized as the most populous city in the Central-West region of São Paulo. It is one of the 19 municipalities comprising the Bauru Immediate Geographic Region ...

. The approximately 5 meter statue depicts Dondinho and Pelé as children. The artist used cement, plaster and iron and created the work in less than 2 months.

Honors

*1939 Itajubense Football Championship (Sociedade Desportiva Yuracan Futebol Clube) *1941 Guaraína Cup (Atlético Clube Três Corações) *1946 Amateur Champion of the state of São Paulo (Bauru Atlético Clube)

In popular culture

Filmography

*1962: King Pelé *2004: Pelé Eterno *2016: Pelé: Birth of a Legend

References

1917 births 1996 deaths Brazilian men's footballers Clube Atlético Mineiro players Fluminense FC players Men's association football forwards Afro-Brazilian people 20th-century Brazilian sportsmen {{Brazil-footy-forward-1910s-stub