Edvaldo Izidio Neto (12 November 1934 – 19 January 2002), commonly known as Vavá, was a Brazilian professional footballer who is widely considered to be one of the greatest strikers of his generation. Nicknamed "Peito de Aço" (Steel Chest), he most notably played for Vasco da Gama, Atlético Madrid, Palmeiras and the Brazil national team.
 Vavá in 1962 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Edvaldo Izídio Neto | |||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 12 November 1934 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Recife, Brazil | |||||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | 19 January 2002 (aged 67) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Place of death | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | |||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.74 m (5 ft 8+1⁄2 in) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Striker | |||||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||||||||
| 1949–1950 | Sport Recife | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1951–1958 | Vasco da Gama | 456 | (191) | |||||||||||||||||
| 1958–1961 | Atlético Madrid | 71 | (31) | |||||||||||||||||
| 1961–1963 | Palmeiras | 142 | (71) | |||||||||||||||||
| 1964–1967 | América | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1967–1968 | Toros Neza | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1968 | San Diego Toros | 28 | (5) | |||||||||||||||||
| 1969 | Portuguesa | |||||||||||||||||||
| International career | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1955–1964 | Brazil | 20 | (15) | |||||||||||||||||
| Managerial career | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1971–1972 | Córdoba | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1974–1975 | Córdoba | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1977–1978 | Granada | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1984–1985 | Al Rayyan | |||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | ||||||||||||||||||||
International career
Vavá earned twenty caps with the Brazil national team between 1955 and 1964, scoring a total of fifteen goals. He was in the side that won both the 1958 and 1962 FIFA World Cups, in which he scored five and four goals, respectively. Furthermore, he was a joint-recipient of the 1962 World Cup Golden Boot as one of the tournament's top scorers. Vavá was also part of Brazil's squad for the 1952 Summer Olympics.[1]
Vavá scored in the World Cup finals of both 1958 (twice) and 1962 (once), thus becoming the first player to score in two finals. To this day, only five players have achieved this feat, the other four being Pelé, Paul Breitner, Zinedine Zidane, and Kylian Mbappé. He remained the only player to have scored in two consecutive World Cup final matches until Kylian Mbappé achieved the feat in the 2022 World Cup final, having also scored in the final in 2018.
Club statistics
| Club performance | League | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Club | League | Apps | Goals |
| Spain | League | |||
| 1958–59 | Atlético Madrid | La Liga | 27 | 16 |
| 1959–60 | 29 | 10 | ||
| 1960–61 | 15 | 5 | ||
| Country | Spain | 71 | 31 | |
| United States | League | |||
| 1968 | San Diego Toros | North American Soccer League | 28 | 5 |
| Country | United States | 28 | 5 | |
| Total | 99 | 36 | ||
Honours
Club
- Campeonato Pernambucano: 1949
- Campeonato Carioca (Rio de Janeiro State championship): 1952, 1956, 1958
- Torneio Rio - São Paulo (Rio – São Paulo Tournament): 1958
- Copa del Rey: 1960, 1961
- Campeonato Paulista (São Paulo State championship): 1963
International
Individual
References
Sources
External links
- Legends of the Football World Cup
- NASL stats
- Vavá player profile at BDFutbol
- Vavá manager profile at BDFutbol
- Vavá at National-Football-Teams.com