Roberto Rivellino (also Rivelino, ; ; born 1 January 1946) is a Brazilian football

pundit A pundit is a person who offers mass media opinion or commentary on a particular subject area (most typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport). Origins The term originates from the Sanskrit term ('' '' ), meaning "knowledg ...

and retired

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 ...

. He was one of the stars of Brazil's

1970 FIFA World Cup The 1970 FIFA World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for men's senior national teams. Held from 31 May to 21 June in Mexico, it was the first World Cup tournament held outside ...

winning team. Rivellino currently works as a pundit for Brazilian TV Cultura. The son of Italian immigrants from Macchiagodena (

Isernia Isernia () or, in Pliny and later writers, ''Eserninus'', or in the Antonine Itinerary, ''Serni''. is a town and ''comune'' in the southern Italian region of Molise, and the capital of province of Isernia. Geography Situated on a rocky crest ...

), he was famous for his large moustache,

bending In applied mechanics, bending (also known as flexure) characterizes the behavior of a slender structural element subjected to an external load applied perpendicularly to a longitudinal axis of the element. The structural element is assumed to ...

free kicks, long range shooting, accurate long passing, vision, close ball control and

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 ...

skills. He also perfected a football move called the "flip flap", famously copied by

Romário Romário de Souza Faria Figueiredo (born 29 January 1966), known simply as Romário (), is a Brazilian politician and a former professional footballer. A prolific striker renowned for his clinical finishing, he scored over 750 goals and was ...

Mágico González Jorge Alberto González Barillas (born 13 March 1958), popularly known as ''El Mágico'' (The Magical One), is a Salvadoran former footballer who played mainly as a forward. At the club level, he played mainly for FAS and Spain's Cádiz in a ...

, Ronaldo,

Ronaldinho Ronaldo de Assis Moreira (born 21 March 1980), commonly known as Ronaldinho Gaúcho () or simply Ronaldinho, is a Brazilian retired professional footballer who played mostly as an attacking midfielder, but was also deployed as a winger. Wide ...

and

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains the Portugal national team. He is currently a free agent. Widely regarded as one of the greatest p ...

in recent years.David Goldblatt (2009). "The Football Book". p. 129. D Kindersley Ltd, A former

attacking midfielder 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 ...

, he is widely regarded as one of the most graceful football players ever, and one of the greatest players of all time. With the close control, feints and ability with his left foot,

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona (; 30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the FI ...

named Rivellino among his greatest inspirations growing up."Football's Greatest – Rivelino". Pitch International LLP. 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2014 In 2004, he was named by

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; born 23 October 1940), known as Pelé (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and labelled "the greatest" by FI ...

in the

FIFA 100 The FIFA 100 is a list of Brazilian footballer Pelé's choice of the "greatest living footballers". Unveiled on 4 March 2004 at a gala ceremony in London, England, the FIFA 100 marked part of the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the fo ...

list of the world's greatest living players.

Club career

Rivellino 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 ...

, and started as a futebol de salao player at Clube Atletico Barcelona. After that, he tried his luck with Barcelona's biggest rival,

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-auth ...

, where he moved on to professional football and quickly became a favourite of the fans—and was therefore nicknamed "O Rei do Parque" (King of the Park) (after the club's home ground, Parque São Jorge). However, the late 60s and early 70s were one of the most troubled periods in the history of the club, which did not win a single São Paulo state league title between 1954 and 1977. Roberto Rivelino from left and right Najeeb Al Imam in 1979 in Saudi Arabia

Roberto Rivelino from left and right Najeeb Al Imam in 1979 in Saudi Arabia

In 1974, after Corinthians was defeated by arch-rivals

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 the São Paulo league finals, as the star player Rivellino was singled out by most fans as one of the most responsible for not winning. He moved on to

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of the same name, Brazil's List of Brazilian states by population, third-most populous state, and the List of largest citi ...

, where he defended Fluminense until the end of the 1970s. Rivellino was undoubtedly the greatest star in the excellent Fluminense of the mid 70s, dubbed "the tricolor machine", among Doval, Pintinho, Gil and Carlos Alberto Torres. He won the Rio de Janeiro league championship in 1975 and 1976. By the end of the decade, he moved on to play for Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia; he retired from professional football in 1981.

International career

Rivellino was a key member of Brazil's

winning team, which is often cited as the greatest-ever World Cup team. Wearing the number 11 jersey, Rivellino was deployed on the left side of midfield and scored 3 goals, including the powerful bending free-kick against

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, which earned him the nickname "Patada Atómica" (Atomic Kick) by Mexican fans. Rivellino also played in the

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of President of the United States, United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom K ...

and

1978 FIFA World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It was held in Argentina between 1 and 25 June. The Cup was won by ...

s, finishing in fourth and third place respectively.

After retirement

After his professional retirement, Rivellino started a career as a football commentator and coach (he has managed

Shimizu S-Pulse is a professional Japanese football club. Located in Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, S-Pulse currently competes in the J2 League (J2). The club was formed in 1991 as a founding member of the J.League (''"Original Ten"''), which bega ...

in Japan's

J. League The , officially is Japan's professional football league including the first division J1 League, second division J2 League and third division J3 League of the Japanese association football league system. J1 League is one of the most successf ...

). Rivellino further represented Brazil in the

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker ru ...

edition of the World Cup of Masters, scoring in the final against Uruguay. Rivellino is sometimes credited with scoring the fastest goal in football history when he supposedly scored a goal direct from the kick-off after noticing the opposition goalkeeper on his knees finishing off pre-match prayers. Regarding the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting rig ...

held in his country, Rivellino criticized the inclusion of the Amazonian city of Manaus with its stadium

Arena da Amazônia Arena da Amazônia (''Amazon Arena'') is a football stadium in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil, located on the former site of the Vivaldão stadium. The stadium has an all-seater capacity of 44,300 and was constructed from 2010 to 2014 as part of Bra ...

in the hosting venues, saying "it’s absurd to play in Manaus. You start sweating the moment you leave the locker room".

Career statistics

Club

Managerial statistics

Honours

Corinthians * Torneio Rio – São Paulo: 1966 Fluminense *

Campeonato Carioca The Campeonato Carioca (Carioca Championship), officially known as Campeonato Estadual do Rio de Janeiro (Port., Rio de Janeiro State Championship), was started in 1906 and is the annual football championship in the state of Rio de Janeiro, B ...

: 1975, 1976 Al Hilal * Kings Cup (Saudi Arabia): 1980 Brazil *

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 ...

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and 1 ...

Individual * FIFA World Cup All-Star Team player: 1970 * ''Bola de Prata'' Brazilian Championship All-Star Team: 1971 * CONMEBOL All-Star Team: 1973 * Bronze ball South American Footballer of the Year: 1973, 1976 * Silver ball South American Footballer of the Year: 1977 * FIFA 100 Greatest Living Footballers: 2004 * Premio

Golden Foot The Golden Foot award is an international football award, given to players who stand out for their athletic achievements (both as individuals and team players) and for their personality. The award is only given to active players of at least 28 year ...

Award ( Football Legend Award): 2005 * The Best of The Best – Player of the Century: Top 50 * World Soccer: 38th Greatest Player of the 20th Century *

IFFHS Brazilian Player of the 20th Century The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for s ...

(12th place)IFFHS' Century Elections
/ref> * Brazilian Football Museum Hall of Fame

References

External links

Brazilian Football Museum Hall of Fame

Rivellino Sport Center

Rivellino from the Confederação Brasileira de Futebol

IMNO Interviews Rivelino

Corinthians All Time Best XI Placar Magazine
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rivellino, Roberto 1946 births Living people FIFA 100 Brazilian footballers Brazilian football managers Brazilian people of Italian descent Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Sport Club Corinthians Paulista players Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras players Fluminense FC players Al Hilal SFC players Footballers from São Paulo 1970 FIFA World Cup players 1974 FIFA World Cup players 1978 FIFA World Cup players FIFA World Cup-winning players Expatriate football managers in Japan J1 League managers Shimizu S-Pulse managers Brazil international footballers Brazilian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia Association football midfielders Saudi Professional League players Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Japan