Ademir De Menezes

1939/42 Sport Recife (BRE)

1942/45 then 1948/56 Vasco da Gama (BRE) 429 matches, 301 goals

1946/47 Fluminense (BRE) 77 matches, 64 goals

1957 Sport Recife (BRE) 1 match

With the National Team :

39 caps, 32 goals

(World Cup: 6 caps, 9 goals)

(Copa America: 18 caps, 12 goals)

(Copa Rio Branco: 7 caps, 6 goals)

(Copa Roca: 3 caps, 3 goals)

(Pan American Championship: 5 caps, 2 goals)

1st cap: January 21, 1945 against Colombia (3-0)

Last cap: March 15, 1953 against Uruguay (1-0)

Ademir Marques De Menezes

Born November 8, 1922 in Recife (BRE)

Died May 11, 1996 in Sao Paulo (BRE)

Brazilian, Striker, 1m78

Nicknames: "Queixada", the dynamiter

Ademir De Menezes was born on November 8, 1922 in Recife, Brazil. He began his football career at the age of 16 in the Sport Recife club, where he stayed for 3 years before signing for Vasco de Gama. A very athletic youngster, he was also a very good athlete and a very good swimmer.

First positioned as a right winger in Recife, he would become a striker in Vasco de Gama. There, he would become one of the best players in the world and his club asserted its place as one of the very best in the world.

He had a short break at Fluminense where he also piled up goals before returning to Vasco de Gama where he thrilled the crowds every week. He also won the first edition of the South American Champion Club Championship, the forerunner of the Copa Libertadores.

His name then placed among those of the greatest players in South American football history: José Manuel Moreno, Angel Laburna and Alfredo Di Stéfano, no less. He finished top scorer in the Rio championship in 1949, with 31 goals and in 1950 with 25 goals. He became the club's top scorer before being dethroned by Roberto Dinamite in the 80s. He scored 301 goals in 429 matches.

It was with the Brazilian national team that the player would forever enter the history of football. Between 1945 and 1953, he was a starter at the forefront of Brazil's attack. Skilled with both feet, he proved to be one of the best strikers on the planet and scored four goals in the 1950 World Cup against Sweden.

He experienced the Brazilian disappointment first-hand during this World Cup, in a stadium packed to the rafters with 200,000 Brazilian supporters present, a trauma. In total, he played 39 times for his nation, scoring 32 goals, including a crazy total in the matches that counted: 9 goals in 6 World Cup matches and 12 goals in 18 Copa America matches.

Not selected for the 1954 World Cup, he ended his football career in 1957 after returning to the club of his youth: Sport Recife. He was then 35 years old.

- Voted best player of the Copa America in 1949

- Top scorer of the World Cup in 1950 (9 goals)

- Top scorer of the Rio State Championship in 1949 (31 goals) and 1950 (25 goals) (Vasco de Gama)

- Top scorer of the Pernambuco State Championship in 1941 (11 goals) (Sport Recife)

- Top scorer of the Rio-São Paulo tournament in 1951 (9 goals) (Vasco de Gama)

- Named in the typical team of the 1950 World Cup

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