Carlos Roberto de Oliveira (13 April 1954 – 8 January 2023), known as Roberto Dinamite, 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 ...

and politician. He was born in Duque de Caxias,

Rio de Janeiro state Rio de Janeiro () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil. It has the second largest economy of Brazil, with the largest being that of the state of São Paulo. The state, which has 8.2% of the Brazilian population, is responsible for 9.2% of ...

. With a career as

centre forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on be ...

spanning over twenty years, Roberto is

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama ( , ; – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and nobleman who was the Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India, first European to reach India by sea. Da Gama's first voyage (1497–1499) was the first to link ...

's player with the most appearances and all-time top goalscorer, as well as the overall leading scorer in the

Brazilian Série A Brazilian commonly refers to: * Brazil, a country * Brazilians, its people * Brazilian Portuguese, its dialect Brazilian may also refer to: * "The Brazilian", a 1986 instrumental music piece by Genesis * Brazilian Café, Baghdad, Iraq (1937) * Bra ...

and the Rio de Janeiro State Championship. At the national level, Roberto Dinamite played in the

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

and

1982 FIFA World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain from 13 June to 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy national footbal ...

s and the 1972 Olympic Games. He was president of Vasco da Gama from 2008 to 2014.

Club career

Roberto Dinamite was developed at

youth squad. He is one of the most famous Vasco da Gama players, and is the club's greatest goal scorer. He scored 698 goals wearing the club's shirt and 864 goals in all his career. He played 1022 matches (768 official matches, and 254 friendly matches). Dinamite was nicknamed Dinamite by the journalist Aparício Pires, of Jornal dos Sports newspaper, after scoring a spectacular goal in his debut for the professional team, on 25 November 1971, against Internacional, at

Maracanã stadium Maracanã Stadium (, ; named after the Maracanã River), officially known as Jornalista Mário Filho Stadium (, ; , named after Mário Filho), is an association football stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Located in the Maracanã neighbor ...

. The journalist wrote in the newspaper that the ''Dynamite-Boy detonates at Maracanã''. He helped Vasco da Gama win the

1974 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The 1974 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, officially the Quarto Campeonato Nacional de Clubes, was the 19th edition of the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A. Overview It was contested by 40 teams, and Vasco da Gama won the championship. First phase G ...

and the 1977 Campeonato Carioca before moving to

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

in 1979. After only scoring 3 goals at Barcelona, he returned back to Vasco da Gama and won four more Campeonato Carioca (

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

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 ...

) In 1989 and 1990, he played for Portuguesa of

São Paulo state SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Serb Autonomous Regions (''Srpska autonomna oblast'', SAO), during the breakup of ...

, scoring 11 goals. His last goal was scored on 26 October 1992, when, in Campeonato Carioca, Vasco da Gama beat Goytacaz 2–0 at São Januário Stadium. Dinamite retired on 24 March 1993, when he was 39 years old. His last match was on that day, when

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña () or simply Depor, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, that competes in the Segunda División, the ...

of Spain beat Vasco da Gama 2–0 at Maracanã stadium, in a friendly game in which Zico also played (for Vasco).

International career

Roberto Dinamite earned 47

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 ...

with the Brazil national team, between September 1975 and June 1984, scoring 25 goals, including matches against combined teams, and clubs. He played 38 matches against national teams (20 of them were official FIFA matches), and scored 20 goals, and the nine other matches were against combined teams, and clubs, scoring five goals in those matches. His first national team match was played on 30 September 1975, when the Peru national team beat Brazil 3–1. Roberto Dinamite's first Brazil national team goal was scored on 23 May 1976, when Brazil beat

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

1–0. His last cap was earned on 17 June 1984, when Brazil and

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

drew 0–0. Dinamite was a reserve player in the

1978 FIFA World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It wa ...

, scoring three goals. He was also reserve player for Serginho in the

, and was called by

Telê Santana Telê Santana da Silva, also known as Telê Santana (July 26, 1931 – April 21, 2006) was a Brazilian football manager and former player (right winger). He was born in Itabirito, Minas Gerais. Telê was the manager responsible for putting to ...

after

Careca Antônio de Oliveira Filho (born 5 October 1960), better known as Careca (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. During his career, Careca played for several clubs, most notably with Italian side Napoli. He ...

got injured. Roberto Dinamite played five Brazil Olympic team matches, all of them in 1972. He scored one goal in his last match, played on 11 August 1972, when Brazil and Tuna Luso drew 1–1.

Politics

After his retirement from football, he became a politician. In 1992, after joining the

PSDB The Brazilian Social Democracy Party (, PSDB), also known as the Brazilian Social Democratic Party or the Party of Brazilian Social Democracy,. is a centre-right political party in Brazil. As the formerly third largest party in the National ...

party, he ran for the State Assembly of Rio de Janeiro, being elected with 34,893 votes, and being re-elected twice since. As a member of PMDB, Roberto Dinamite was elected Rio de Janeiro state deputy in 1994, with 68,516 votes, in 1998, with 44,993 votes, in 2002, with 53,172 votes and in 2006, with 49,097 votes. Roberto Dinamite was a candidate to Vasco da Gama presidency in 2003 and in 2006. He was elected president of Vasco da Gama on 21 June 2008.

Death

Roberto Dinamite died of

intestinal cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel ...

in Rio de Janeiro on 8 January 2023, at the age of 68, after fighting against the disease since 2021.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Brazil's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Dinamite goal.''

Honours

Vasco da Gama *

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (; English: "Brazilian Championship A Series"), commonly referred to as the Brasileirão (; English: "Big Brazilian" or "Great Brazilian"), the Série A or the Brazilian Série A (to distinguish it from the I ...

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

Campeonato Carioca The Campeonato Carioca (Carioca Championship), officially known as Campeonato Estadual do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro State Championship), also commonly known as the Cariocão, is the top-flight professional state football league in the Br ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

Brazil U23 * CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic:

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

Brazil * Bicentennial Cup: 1976 *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

third Place:

Copa América The CONMEBOL Copa América (; known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship), often simply called the Copa America, is the top men's quadrennial association football, football tournament contested among list of men's national ass ...

runner-up:

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

Individual *

all-time top goalscorer: 702 goals *

all-time top goalscorer: 190 goals *

all-time top goalscorer: 284 goals * 42nd-highest official goalscorer in football history: 517 goals (according to

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (''RSSSF'') is an international organisation dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around ...

) * Campeonato Brasileiro Série A top scorer: 1974 (16 goals), 1984 (16 goals) *

top scorer:

(19 goals),

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

(31 goals),

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

(12 goals) * Bola de Prata: 1979, 1981, 1984 *