Júlio Botelho, also known as ''Julinho'' (; 29 July 1929 – 10 January 2003) was a Brazilian football player. He was primarily a

right winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. Known for his

dribbling In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. A ...

ability and powerful shot, Julinho is regarded as one of the greatest wingers in football history. He was selected by Eric Batty in the ''World Soccer Magazine'' world XI in 1960.

Club career

Julinho was born in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

. During his career (1951–1967), he played for Portuguesa, Fluminense and

Palmeiras Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (), commonly known as Palmeiras, is a Brazilian professional association football, football club based in the city of São Paulo, in the district of Perdizes (district of São Paulo), Perdizes. Palmeiras is one ...

. In

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, he was a team member of Fiorentina and was a key member of the squad which won the Italian title in

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, are kille ...

. In 1957, he participated in the club's

1957 European Cup Final The 1957 European Cup Final was a football match played at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid, Spain, on 30 May 1957 to determine the winners of the 1956–57 European Cup. It was contested between Real Madrid of Spain and Fiorentina of Ita ...

, a 2–0 loss to

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

International career

Julinho played for

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

at the

1954 FIFA World Cup The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June to 4 July. Switzer ...

in Switzerland, scoring two goals. He was also a member of the squad that won the

1952 Panamerican Championship The 1952 Panamerican Championship was the first edition of the Panamerican Championship, an association football tournament featuring national teams from North, Central and South America. Organized by the Panamerican Football Confederation, this f ...

, and that finished runners-up in the 1953 South American Championship and the 1964 Taça das Nações. In total, he made 24 international appearances between 1952 and 1965, scoring 11 goals.

Style of play

A highly creative, talented, and dynamic player, with a slender build, Julinho usually played as a right winger, where he operated as a

playmaker In association football, a playmaker is a player who controls the flow of the team's play, and is often involved in offensively and defensively playing passing moves which lead to goals, through their vision, technique, ball control, creativity ...

, and was known for his speed, vision, tactical sense, powerful shooting ability, and

skills, which enabled him to cut into the centre and shoot on goal or create chances for other players. He was also known for his ability to build attacking plays, or get to the touchline and deliver accurate

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns sliding ...

crosses to his teammates. He is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, and as one of Brazil's best wingers ever.

After retirement

Julinho was nominated the best player in the history of Fiorentina in 1996.

Death

He died at the age of 73 on 10 January 2003.

Honours

Club

; Portuguesa * Torneio Rio-São Paulo: 1952, 1955 ; Fiorentina *

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Copp ...

: 1955–56 *

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

: Runner-up 1956–57 ;

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional football league in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. Run by the FPF, the league is contested between 16 clubs and ty ...

: 1959, 1963 *

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (; English: "Brazilian Championship A Series"), commonly referred to as the Brasileirão (; English: "Big Brazilian"), and also known as Brasileirão Assaí due to sponsorship with Assaí Atacadista, is a Br ...

: 1960 * Torneio Rio-São Paulo: 1965 *

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

: Runner-up 1968

Individual

World Soccer Magazine ''World Soccer'' is an English-language football magazine, published by Kelsey Media. The magazine was established in 1960 and is the oldest continually published football magazine in the United Kingdom. It specialises in the international fo ...

World XI: 1960 * Brazilian Football Museum Hall of Fame * Inducted in ACF Fiorentina Hall of Fame

References

External links

* * 1929 births 2003 deaths Brazilian footballers ACF Fiorentina players Fluminense FC players Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras players 1954 FIFA World Cup players Brazil international footballers Brazilian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy Serie A players Association football forwards Footballers from São Paulo {{Brazil-footy-forward-1920s-stub