Former Brazilian soccer player and coach Mário Jorge Lobo Zagallo, four-time world champion with the Canarinha as a player, coach and coordinator of the national team, died at the age of 92, as confirmed by his office. Zagallo is to this day the only one in the history of football with four world titles in his personal record: two as a player (Sweden 1958 and Chile 1962), another as a coach (Mexico 1970) and the last as coordinator of the Canarinha (United States 1994 ).
His health has deteriorated in recent years due to a respiratory and another urinary infection for which he was hospitalized for nearly three weeks in August of last year.
Zagallo's goodbye occurs just over a year after the death of Edson Arantes do Nascimento 'Pelé', who died on December 29, 2022 due to complications derived from colon cancer.
Zagallo celebrated with 'O Rei' the world titles in Sweden 1958 and Chile 1962, both as players, and in Mexico 1970, with 'Old Wolf' as coach.
His death has sparked a wave of condolences. Especially for the Brazilian clubs Botafogo, Flamengo, Fluminense and Vasco da Gama, the big four of Rio de Janeiro and in which he acted at different times as a player or coach. Also that of former soccer player Romário de Souza, with whom he had harsh controversies. Romário assured that the 'Old Wolf' has "the same importance as Pelé" in the history of world football.
"It is a very sad day for football. Everyone knows that I had no relationship with him," but "I have to admit" that Zagallo "has the same importance as Pelé," Romário, who this Saturday assumed the presidency of the club, told reporters. club América in the midst of mourning the death of the Brazilian soccer legend, at the age of 92.
That club in Rio de Janeiro was where, in 1948, Zagallo began a career as a left winger that led him to become the only soccer figure to win four World Cups. Two were as a player (Sweden 1958 and Chile 1962), another as a coach (Mexico 1970) and the last as coordinator of the Canarinha (United States 1994). He also coached Brazil in the 1998 World Cup in France, in which his team lost in the final to the hosts, 3-0.
It was within the framework of that World Cup when Romário definitively broke with the legendary 'Old Wolf', who two days before Brazil's debut excluded him from the squad due to an injury from which 'Baixinho' finally recovered halfway through the tournament. .
Furious with that decision, Romário had offensive caricatures of Zagallo and Zico, coordinator of that team, painted on the toilet doors of a bar in Rio de Janeiro, for which Justice later forced him to compensate both.
The wake of Mário Jorge Lobo Zagallo, the only football figure with four world titles under his belt, will be held this Sunday at the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) in Rio de Janeiro.
His relatives reported this Saturday that the farewell of "Old Wolf" will be open to the public and that on Sunday afternoon, he will be buried in the São João Batista cemetery, in the Botafogo neighborhood and close to one of the clubs that held him. he had as a player and coach.
The CBF has declared seven days of mourning in Brazilian football for the death of someone it considered "one of the greatest legends" in the country.
