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Zico 1983
past 12 months. Flamengo, his Rio club, had been going through a poor patch when he left for Italy – and Udinese are hardly the most fashionable of sides.
Nevertheless, Zico, his wife Sandra and their family, have settled very happily and while he has refused to be intimidated by brutal defenders, Zico has established himself not only as an all-round inspiration but as league-leading scorer with eight goals.
Platini appeared to have a great claim – and that will almost certainly be rewarded with the European Footballer of the Year prize awarded each year by the Paris magazine, France Football.
Platini, in his first season with Juventus, not only finished as Italian league top scorer but provided the vital goals and guidance which took them to the Champions’ Cup final in Athens. On the night, however, they were out-thought by a Hamburg side whose brilliance that evening did more than anything to earn them the Team of the Year title, while Denmark’s Sepp Piontek won our Manager of the Year award.
But it is the crowning of Zico which takes pride of place.
As a kid he carried his ball of rags from one street to another, looking for somewhere to kick it around where the neighbours wouldn’t complain and the police wouldn’t chase him away.
As a youth he walked the Rio beaches selling popcorn, hoping again that he could stay out of trouble.
But now Arthur Antunes Coimbra could buy up all those streets where he once kicked his rag football. Or a popcorn factory. His ability has turned him into a football millionaire, a superstar in Brazil – more popular even than Eder, Socrates, Falcao or former Flamengo team-mate Junior – and now in Italy as well.
Aged 30 and with 78 appearances for the full Brazil national team to his credit, Zico comes from a football family. His three elder brothers all played in the Rio league and with such a background Flamengo didn’t need asking twice when Zico requested a trial as a 15-year-old. But the youth coaches had their doubts. Skilful, certainly. But he looked undernourished. He was fragile, brittle-looking.
Thus Zico was sent to the club’s medical centre. The prescription was obvious: anabolic preparations to help build his muscles and plenty of meat – more than Zico had ever known in his life.
A year later he was a different player. People higher up the club took notice. A year later the veteran Paraguayan
coach, Fleitas Solich, called him up for the first team. He played 15 games and scored but twice. He was still slightly out of his depth. But not for long.
Back in the youth team he proved his potential, netting 20 goals in 22 matches, a prelude to his first representative call, playing for Brazil in the Olympic qualifiers.
Now his career took off. He became a regular with Flamengo and then with Brazil – hitting a superb debut winner with a free-kick against Uruguay.
Clubs from Spain and Italy dived in with offers and inquiries. But, though he scored four times in an 8-0 demolition of Bolivia in the 1978 World Cup qualifiers, he let himself down in the finals in Argentina.
Thus he rejected offers from Milan and Napoli, inspired Flamengo’s 1981 World Club Cup victory over Liverpool in Tokyo, and starred in Brazil’s World Cup bid the following summer.
There just wasn’t money enough in Brazil to keep him. So, last summer, unfashionable Udinese stole a march on Juventus, Internazionale and the other Italian giants and snapped up Zico for £2 million. It has proven an inspired signing.
Top 10 Players of 1983
Player Club
Country % of vote 1) Zico Udinese Brazil 28 2) Michel Platini Juventus France 24 3) Falcao Roma Brazil 18 4) Diego Maradona Barcelona Argentina 6 5) Karl-Heinz Rumenigge Bayern Munich West Germany 4 6=) Kenny Dalglish Liverpool Scotland 3 6=) Felix Magath Hamburg West Germany 3 6=) Bryan Robson Manchester United England 3 9=) Charlie Nicholas Arsenal Scotland 2 9=) Erwin Vandenbergh Anderlecht Belgium 2
Selecao star…Zico tops the vote
Other World Soccer Award winners 1983
European champions… Hamburg won 29 per cent of the vote
TEAM OF THE YEAR: Hamburg
