Gérson Pereira da Silva, (September 23, 1965 – May 17, 1994), sometimes known as just Gérson, 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

Biography

Gerson da Silva’s talents became evident at age 18, when he was top scorer in the

Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior The Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior (or ''São Paulo Youth Football Cup'', in English), also known as Copa São Paulo de Juniores (''São Paulo Youth Cup'') and Copinha (''Little Cup''), is a cup competition played by Brazilian under-20 assoc ...

1984 with

Santos Santos may refer to: People *Santos (surname) * Santos Balmori Picazo (1899–1992), Spanish-Mexican painter * Santos Benavides (1823–1891), Confederate general in the American Civil War Places *Santos, São Paulo, a municipality in São Paulo ...

. Having spent the

Guarani de Campinas Guarani Futebol Clube, colloquially called Guarani, is a Brazilian association football club in Campinas, São Paulo. Guarani is the only club not based in a state capital or coastal city to have won the top tier of the Brazilian Championsh ...

and

Paulista Futebol Clube Paulista Futebol Clube, also called as Paulista de Jundiaí or simply Paulista, is a Brazilian football team from Jundiaí, in São Paulo, founded on 17 May 1909. They currently play in the Campeonato Paulista Série A4, the fourth tier of the ...

, became the idol of

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 ...

and

Sport Club Internacional Sport Club Internacional (), commonly known as Internacional, Inter de Porto Alegre, a cidade do Grêmio or simply Inter, is a Brazilian professional Association football, football club based in Porto Alegre. They play in the Campeonato Bras ...

, clubs whereby, within 4 years, was three times top scorer of the

Copa do Brasil The Copa do Brasil () is a knockout football competition played by 92 teams, representing all 26 Brazilian states plus the Federal District. It is the Brazilian domestic cup and it is the Brazilian equivalent of the FA Cup, Taça de Portugal, ...

(1989 and 1991 by Atletico, 1992 by Inter), and remains the only player to have hit that mark. In 1991, he helped Atletico to the biggest win of all time in the Brazil Cup: 11–0 in

Caiçara Esporte Clube Caiçara Esporte Clube, commonly known as Caiçara, is a Brazilian association football, football club based in Campo Maior, Piauí, Campo Maior, Piauí, Piauí state. They competed once in the Copa do Brasil. History The club was founded on Febru ...

Campo Maior, Piauí Campo Maior, Piauí is a municipality in the state of Piauí in the Northeast region of Brazil. Its Catedral Santo Antônio, dedicated to Saint Anthony, is the cathedral episcopal see of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Campo Maior. See also * L ...

, at Independence Stadium in Belo Horizonte, having scored five goals in this game. At International, where he was known affectionately as "Nego Gerson," he scored a number of beautiful goals and was instrumental in the successful campaigns of the

of 1992 (when he scored 9 of the team's 18 goals) and

Campeonato Gaúcho The Campeonato Gaúcho (English: Gaúcho Championship), officially named as Campeonato Gaúcho de Futebol Série A and commonly known as the Gauchão or the Gauchão Ipiranga (company), Ipiranga for sponsorship reasons, is the top-flight profess ...

, won just 10 days after. At the time that the Colorado lifted the Brazilian Cup, the coach

Antônio Lopes Antônio Lopes dos Santos, usually known as Antônio Lopes (born June 12, 1941) is a Brazilian football head coach and former footballer. Before being a football head coach, he worked as a chief police officer in Rio de Janeiro city. Antôni ...

became aware of the clinical state of Gérson. However, rather than remove him from the group, Lopes kept between holders. The coach confirmed that used the example of basketball player

Magic Johnson Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. Often regarded as the greatest point guard of all time, Johnson List of NBA players who have spent their entire career w ...

, gold medal at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

months before, to motivate his shirt 9. He died in 1994, victim of

toxoplasmosis Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease caused by ''Toxoplasma gondii'', an apicomplexan. Infections with toxoplasmosis are associated with a variety of neuropsychiatric and behavioral conditions. Occasionally, people may have a few weeks or month ...

, a few months after leaving to train for health problems related to

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

. His wife Andréa Felipe Silva confirmed that Gerson died from AIDS and accused International of abandoning him.jornalistas.com.br
/ref> According to statements from the direction of the International, Gérson was diagnosed with

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...

, however the player and his family have always denied. Recently doctors declared that centre forward probably never would have received proper treatment at the time due to the lack of progress in the area, and was apparently upset with the psychological state, possibly due to personal problems or his health, since he never proved to be believer its recovery. For these reasons, the disease could have advanced more quickly. Gerson managed to win the topscorer award of the

on three of its five editions (launched in 1989) before retiring in 1993. He scored a total of 166 goals in 291 league games between 1985 and 1993, including the State championships.

Career

: 1985. * Guarani: 1985. *

Paulista Paulista is a municipality in Pernambuco, Brazil, with a population of 334,376 as of 2020. It has the highest Human Development Index (HDI) of the Recife metropolitan area. It is the birthplace of footballer Rivaldo and is also famous for its be ...

: 1986–1987. *

: 1988–1991. *

Internacional Sport Club Internacional (), commonly known as Internacional, Inter de Porto Alegre, a cidade do Grêmio or simply Inter, is a Brazilian professional football club based in Porto Alegre. They play in the Série A, the first division of the ...

: 1992–1993.

Honours

Club

* Rio Grande do Sul State Championship – 1992 –

Minas Gerais State Championship The Campeonato Mineiro is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. It is run by the Minas Gerais Football Federation (FMF). The history of Campeonato Mineiro can be divided into two parts: befo ...

– 1988 and 1989 –

: 1992 –

*Brazil squad

1985 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1985 FIFA World Youth Championship was the fifth edition FIFA U-20 World Cup, FIFA World Youth Championship, was held in the Soviet Union (USSR) from 24 August to 7 September 1985. The tournament took place in ten venues within eight host citie ...

– 1985.

Individual

*Topscorer of

– 1985 *Topscorer of Special Division Championship 1988 by Paulista Jundiai *Topscorer of the Copa do Brasil on three occasions which is a record:

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

and

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

References

Sources

Biography at terceirotempo

External links

internacional.com.br

impedimento.org

ogol.com.br
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Silva, Gerson da 1965 births 1994 deaths AIDS-related deaths in São Paulo (state) Footballers from Santos, São Paulo Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Guarani FC players Santos FC players Paulista Futebol Clube players Clube Atlético Mineiro players SC Internacional players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Brazil men's international footballers Brazil men's youth international footballers 20th-century Brazilian sportsmen