Roberto Dias Branco or simply Roberto Dias (7 January 1943 in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

– 26 September 2007) was a

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 ...

with

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

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. He was considered by

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 ...

to be the greatest Brazilian central defender of the 1960s and 1970s. He was known for his finesse on defense—a player who did not need to show a rough side. He just knew how to cover and always seemed one step ahead of the forwards he covered—including Pelé. Pelé said that Roberto Dias was the only central defender who could truly mark him. In one game between Pelé's

Santos FC Santos Futebol Clube () is a Brazilian sports club based in Vila Belmiro, a ''bairro'' in the city of Santos, São Paulo, Santos. It plays in the Campeonato Paulista, the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo's premier State football lea ...

and

in the 1967 edition of the

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. Run by the São Paulo State Football Federation (FPF), ...

, which ended in a 3–3 draw, Dias, kept Pelé scoreless while scoring 2 goals in the process. Roberto Dias was on the 1960 Olympic football team in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. Despite his stellar career, Dias was not given a spot on the

1966 FIFA World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 to 30 July 1966. England defeated West Germany 4–2 in the 1966 FI ...

team, when Coach Feola opted to call up an ageing Zito to the squad instead of Dias. Furthermore, in 1973, at the age of 30, he suffered a heart attack. He earned 27

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

. The São Paulo teams he played for were never really contenders—the board opted to spend their money in the construction of

Estádio do Morumbi The Estádio Cícero Pompeu de Toledo, popularly known as Estádio do Morumbi (Morumbi Stadium), and currently known as MorumBIS for sponsorship reasons, is a multipurpose 72,039-seater football stadium located in the eponymous district in São ...

instead of on players. Pelé was past his prime—and the construction of Morumbi completed in 1970,

promptly won two Paulistas. After many years training and working as coach for the São Paulo FC youth team, Roberto Dias suffered a fatal heart attack and died in São Paulo. In his honor, the SPFC team played with a black armband in the second game against Boca Juniors for the 2007 Sudamerica Cup.

References

External links

Bigsoccer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dias, Roberto 1943 births Brazilian men's footballers São Paulo state football team players São Paulo FC players Olympic footballers for Brazil Footballers at the 1960 Summer Olympics 2007 deaths Men's association football defenders Men's association football midfielders Footballers from São Paulo 20th-century Brazilian sportsmen Centro de Ensino Unificado de Brasília Esporte Clube players