Gylmar dos Santos Neves

Gylmar dos Santos Neves

Gilmar is generally regarded as the greatest goalkeeper in Brazilian History and a frontrunner for the history of football in general. Glovemen like Gylmar dos Santos Neves also lead his team to 2 World Cups, which hasn’t been done by another Brazilian goalie since. Gilmar was a devoted family man and much loved by fans the world over.

Mauro Ramos

Mauro Ramos

As a strong team captain that took charge and lead his team to success time and time again, Mauro Ramos was a respected player, captain, leader, and even Fashion Icon on the field. Ramos helped to develop his team and milk out every bit of potential to gain unexpected wins over and over again. After his success in the 1962 World Cup, Mauro Ramos was quickly embraced as one of the greatest goal tenders of all times.

Pele

Pele

No list would be complete without mentioning, Pele, the man who became a true household name the world over. Gracing the pitch with his perfect form and flawless technique, Pele is regarded as one of the greatest football players of all time. Leading his team to multiple victories year after year, watching Pele has been compared to a religious experience by more than one die hard fan. Starting out his career at the age of 15 and continuing to hone is skill every opportunity he got, Pele became an inspiration and cuss story for his whole country.

Garrincha

Garrincha

If not in the list of top 3, Garrincha must at the very least get an honorable mention. Truly never has such a Cinderella story had a happier ending. Suffering from crippled and disfigured legs in his childhood it was less than unlikely that Manuel Francisco dos Santos, or “Little Bird” Garrincha, would ever play, let alone reach for the stars and succeed. He is famous for his creative influence to the game, though his life off of the field is almost as well known.

With football truly being a sport played world wide, it is a mark of pride that so many great players came from Brazil. The best Brazil Football Players enjoy a far reaching fame like no other sportsman.

The yellow football shirt of Brazil has not always been the official shirt of the team. In fact, when the team played their first game in 1914, they wore white shirts with blue stripes on the sleeves, along with white shorts and socks. In each of the years between 1916 and 1919, they continually changed the shirt colors and designs:

1916—The shirt was yellow and green striped, but they kept the white shorts and socks.

1917—A solid red shirt was official for this year. White shorts and socks completed the kit.

1918—This year, the shirt was mainly white, but a wide green stripe dominated the middle of the shirt, with yellow stripes on the sleeves.

1919—The first shirt color was a black and yellow stripe, complete with black shorts and socks. During the same year, they changed it to a solid white shirt and blue shorts and white socks, which stayed until 1945.

Performance

During the years of color changes, the team’s game performance suffered. Because of a row between the Brazilian football associations about the professionalism, they were unable to attract the better players. In fact, their biggest defeat was in 1920 against Uruguay, with a score of 6-0. It seemed that they could just not get organized into a decent team, and it wasn’t until the mid-1950’s that they finally became the team they are known as today.

The “Golden Era”

Just like in a movie, as the music plays, the team suddenly “gets it” and starts winning games and becoming the great team they are today. But how did they get there?

1950 was one of the worst years for the team as they faced a game that was known as the “fateful final” because they lost the World Cup to Uruguay again with a score of 2-1 on the home turf. Between the years of 1945 and 1950, their uniform color was all white, followed by all blue until 1953.

Because of this, they were criticized about their uniform lacking patriotism. So they decided they needed a new shirt design and color reflecting the national flag, so a contest was held to incorporate the colors of the flag into the uniforms. A young adult by the name of Aldyr Garcia Schlee designed the winning uniform, consisting of a yellow Brazilian football shirt with green cuffs and collar, as well as blue shorts and white socks. This has been the uniform ever since then. And, ever since they agreed on the color of the uniform, they have improved with every game. In 1958, they won their first World Cup.

Over The Years

The Brazilian football team has become one of the greatest teams in the world even though they had a very rocky start. Whenever a team becomes unified through their team colors and uniform design, they become unified in their teamwork and in their games. Perhaps having the same color for half a century has unified them in a way no other teams have experienced…maybe not. What are your thoughts?