28 October: Garrincha, the joy of the people
Garrincha
«Alegria do Povo»
- Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas 1953-1965 · 245 goals
- Sport Club Corinthians Paulista 1966 · 10 goals
- Club de Regatas Vasco da Gama 1967
- Associação Atlética Portuguesa 1967 · 7 goals
- Clube de Regatas do Flamengo 1968-1969 · 4 goals
- Junior de Barranquilla 1968 · 3 goals
- Olaria Atlético Clube 1972 · 7 goals
The legs
He was born in Pau Grande, an industrial town near Rio, with a curved spine and crooked legs, the right bent inwards and the left outwards. The doctors said he would never be an athlete. His sister gave him the nickname: a garrincha is a small, plain local bird.
His dribble was always the same: a feint inside and away on the outside. Every defender knew it, and still nobody could stop him.
Sweden and Chile
At the 1958 World Cup he started from the third game onwards, alongside the young Pelé, and Brazil won their first World Cup.
In Chile 1962 Pelé was injured in the second game and Garrincha carried the team on his back: he was voted the tournament's best player and joint top scorer. He was sent off in the semi-final against Chile, but FIFA allowed him to play the final, and Brazil won their second World Cup in a row. According to the records, Brazil never lost a game in which Pelé and Garrincha played together.
The end
Off the pitch his life was chaos. Knee injuries and alcohol ended his career, and he died in 1983, aged forty-nine, poor and ill. His funeral was huge. On his grave, in Pau Grande, someone wrote that he had been the joy of the people.
Also born on 28 October
Milan Baroš, Euro 2004's top scorer
A Czech striker who was top scorer at Euro 2004, with five goals, in Nedvěd's Czech Republic side that went out only in the semi-final, to Greece, with a silver goal. A year later he played for Liverpool in the Istanbul final.
- FC Baník Ostrava 1998-2001 · 23 goals
- Liverpool Fútbol Club 2002-2005 · 19 goals
- Aston Villa Football Club 2005-2007 · 9 goals
- Olympique de Lyon 2007-2008 · 7 goals
- Portsmouth Football Club 2008
- Galatasaray Spor Kulübü 2008-2013 · 48 goals
Another 48 internationally known footballers were born on this day. We do not list them for the sake of it: only those with a story to tell make it here.
📅 The almanac: pick any date
Every day of the year has its story. Highlighted days are already out: click to see who was born or what happened on that date. The faded ones go live on their day, at midnight (Spain time). 42 published.
Football almanac · Elopi23
January
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February
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March
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May
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June
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July
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August
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September14 ★
- 11 September: Ruud Gullit
- 1111 September: Franz Beckenbauer
- 1818 September: Ronaldo
- 2020 September: Henrik Larsson
- 2121 September: Sándor Kocsis
- 2222 September: Thiago Silva
- 2323 September: Quini
- 2424 September: Marco Tardelli
- 2525 September: Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
- 2626 September: Michael Ballack
- 2727 September: Francesco Totti
- 2828 September: Javi Poves
- 2929 September: Andriy Shevchenko
- 3030 September: Frank Rijkaard
October28 ★
- 11 October: George Weah
- 22 October: Alisson Becker · Roberto Firmino
- 33 October: Zlatan Ibrahimović
- 44 October: Jorge Valdano
- 55 October: Kopa, Rial, Di Stéfano, Puskás and Gento
- 66 October: Bruce Grobbelaar
- 77 October: Diego Costa
- 88 October: Zvonimir Boban
- 99 October: Gheorghe Popescu
- 1010 October: Tony Adams
- 1111 October: Bobby Charlton
- 1212 October: Cristhian Stuani
- 1313 October: Raymond Kopa
- 1414 October: Matt Le Tissier
- 1515 October: Didier Deschamps
- 1616 October: Paulo Roberto Falcão
- 1717 October: Sergio Goycochea
- 1818 October: Julio Olarticoechea
- 1919 October: Gunnar Nordahl
- 2020 October: Claudio Ranieri
- 2121 October: Paco Gento
- 2222 October: Lev Yashin
- 2323 October: Pelé
- 2424 October: Wayne Rooney
- 2525 October: Francisco Sá
- 2626 October: The founding of the Football Association
- 2727 October: Sebastián Abreu
- 2828 October: Garrincha
November
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December
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★ published · ✎ written, waiting for their day · the red circle is today
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Dates, clubs, individual awards and photos come from Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons, under free licences, and update themselves. Ages are not written anywhere: they are calculated the moment you open the page, so this page always shows the right age, this year and twenty years from now. If any of these players signs for another club or wins an award, their profile picks it up on its own. What is written by hand is the story and the judgement: who the day belongs to, and why.