Mauro Ramos de Oliveira (30 August 1930 – 18 September 2002), known as Mauro Ramos or simply Mauro, was a Brazilian professional

association 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, rug ...

. He played as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

São Paulo FC São Paulo Futebol Clube (), commonly referred to as São Paulo, is a professional football club in the Morumbi district of São Paulo, Brazil, founded in 1930. It plays in the Campeonato Paulista (the State of São Paulo's premier state lea ...

Santos FC Santos Futebol Clube (), commonly known simply as Santos or Santos FC and nicknamed the ''Peixe'' (; "fish"), is a Brazilian sports club based in Vila Belmiro, a ''bairro'' in the city of Santos. It is also the team with the most goals in ...

and the Brazil national team. Regarded as one of the best Brazilian centre backs of all time, he was praised throughout his career for his aerial ability and tackling. Italian sports journalist

Gianni Brera Giovanni Luigi "Gianni" Brera (8 September 1919 – 19 December 1992) was an Italian sports journalist and novelist. This is a description by himself: "My real name is Giovanni Luigi Brera. I was born on 8 September 1919 in San Zenone Po in the ...

believed Mauro to be the best

sweeper Sweepers are small, tropical marine (occasionally brackish) perciform fish of the family Pempheridae. Found in the western Atlantic Ocean and Indo-Pacific region, the family contains about 26 species in two genera. One species (''Pempheris xanth ...

in the history of the game.

Club career

Born in

Poços de Caldas Poços de Caldas is a municipality in the south of Minas Gerais state, Brazil, in the microregion of the same name. Its estimated population in 2020 was 168,641 inhabitants. The city is known for its hot springs. History Poços was founded in 1 ...

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literall ...

, Mauro began his career playing for amateur clubs in his hometown in the 1940s. Notably representing Caldense, he joined

in 1948 from

Sanjoanense Clube de Futebol Os Sanjoanenses, also known as Sanjoanense (Capeverdean Crioulo, ALUPEC or ALUPEK: ''Sanjoanensi'', also in the other Capeverdean Crioulo forms of the Santo Antão and the São Vicente Crioulos) is a football club that curren ...

. Signed as a replacement to club idol Armando Renganeschi, Mauro immediately became a starter and relegated Renganeschi to the bench. He represented the club in 489 matches, scoring two goals. Ahead of the 1960 season, Mauro moved to

for a fee of five million cruzeiros. He was also a first-choice at his new club, being a part of the team who was widely known as ''

Os Santásticos ''Os Santásticos'' (, ''The Santastics'') is the nickname for the group of Santos Futebol Clube players coached by Lula and Antoninho that won a total of 25 titles between 1959 and 1974, including two Copa Libertadores. Often considered one ...

'. In 1967, Mauro moved abroad for the first time in his career and joined Mexican side

Toluca Toluca , officially Toluca de Lerdo , is the state capital of the State of Mexico as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. With a population of 910,608 as of the 2020 census, Toluca is the fifth most populous city in Mexico. The city f ...

. He retired with the club in the following year, aged 38, due to a

groin In human anatomy, the groin (the adjective is ''inguinal'', as in inguinal canal) is the junctional area (also known as the inguinal region) between the abdomen and the thigh on either side of the pubic bone. This is also known as the medial co ...

injury.

International career

Mauro received 28 caps with the Brazil national team. He was an unplaying member of the Brazil squad at the

1954 World Cup Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

. He was also an unplaying member of the squad that won the

1958 World Cup The 1958 FIFA World Cup was the sixth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Sweden from 8 to 29 June 1958. It was the first FIFA World Cup to be played in a Nordic country. Brazil ...

. At the

1962 World Cup The 1962 FIFA World Cup was the seventh edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held from 30 May to 17 June 1962 in Chile. The qualification rounds took place be ...

he finally made his World Cup debut and as team

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

he lifted the World Cup Trophy after victory in the final over

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

Managerial career

After starting it out at

C.D. Oro Club Deportivo Oro is a football club that plays in the second division. It is based in the city of Guadalajara. The club was one of five clubs from the state of Jalisco to play in the Mexican first division. It only won one league title, back ...

, Mauro was appointed manager of Santos in 1971. He left the club in the following year. Mauro also took over

Coritiba Coritiba Foot Ball Club, commonly known as Coritiba and colloquially referred to as "Coxa-Branca" or "Coxa", is a Brazilian football club from Curitiba, capital city of the States of Brazil, Brazilian state of Paraná state, Paraná. Fou ...

in 1971 and 1984.

Death

Mauro died on 18 September 2002, due to an intestinal

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal bl ...

Honours

Club

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 ...

: 1948, 1949, 1953, 1957, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965 * Brazilian Trophy: 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 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 ...

: 1962, 1963 * Intercontinental Cup: 1962, 1963 * Torneio Rio-São Paulo: 1959, 1963, 1964, 1966 *

Recopa Intercontinental The Intercontinental Champions' Supercup, commonly referred to as the Intercontinental Supercup or Recopa Intercontinental, was a football competition endorsed by UEFA and CONMEBOL, contested by the past winners of the Intercontinental Cup. The ...

: 1968

International

Brazil *

Copa America Copa or COPA may refer to: COPA COPA may refer to: * Computer Operator Programming Assistant. trade of ITI * Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet * Canadian Owners and Pilots Ass ...

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – ...

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the ' (FIFA), the ...

: 1958,

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wo ...

Roca Cup The Roca Cup ( es, Copa Roca) was a football competition contested between Argentina and Brazil national teams from 1914 to 1976 on irregular basis. The Copa Roca was the first trophy, official or unofficial, ever won by a Brazilian national team. ...

: 1963

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ramos, Mauro 1930 births 2002 deaths Sportspeople from Minas Gerais Brazilian footballers Association football central defenders São Paulo FC players Santos FC players Deportivo Toluca F.C. players 1954 FIFA World Cup players 1958 FIFA World Cup players 1962 FIFA World Cup players FIFA World Cup-winning players FIFA World Cup-winning captains Brazil international footballers Brazilian football managers Santos FC managers Coritiba Foot Ball Club managers Brazilian expatriate footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Expatriate footballers in Mexico Deaths from cancer in Minas Gerais