Heleno de Freitas

Heleno de Freitas (12 February 1920 – 8 November 1959) was a Brazilian footballer, who played as a forward.

Heleno de Freitas
De Freitas when playing for Boca Juniors
Personal information
Date of birth (1920-02-12)12 February 1920
Place of birth São João Nepomuceno, Brazil
Date of death 8 November 1959(1959-11-08) (aged 39)
Place of death Barbacena, Brazil
Height 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position(s) Forward
Youth career
1927–1931 Mangueira
1931–1935 Madureira
1935–1936 Botafogo
1936–1939 Fluminense
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1939–1948 Botafogo 235 (209)
1948 Boca Juniors 17 (7)
1949–1950 Vasco 24 (19)
1950 Atlético Junior 15 (9)
1951 Santos 0 (0)
1951 América 1 (0)
Total 292 (244)
National team
1944–1948 Brazil 18 (19)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Early life

De Freitas was born into a rich Brazilian family in São João de Nepomuceno, in the state of Minas Gerais, on 12 February 1920. Prior to becoming a footballer, he was looking to pursue a career as a lawyer, and even obtained a law degree. He began playing beach football in amateur tournaments. He was signed by Botafogo at the age of 17.[1][2]

Club career

Heleno spent most of his club career with Botafogo, scoring 209 goals in 235 matches for the club, most with his head. In 1948 he transferred to Boca Juniors in Argentina, but returned to Brazil the following year, winning the 1949 Campeonato Carioca with Vasco. He also had a spell in Colombia with Atlético Junior, before ending his career with América in Rio, after a very short stint at Santos;[3] he played only one match for America, on 4 November 1951, during which he was sent off after only 25 minutes of play for insulting his teammates, and it was his first and last game in the Maracanã.[1][2][4]

International career

De Freitas scored 19 goals in 18 appearances for Brazil between 1944 and 1948 (a rare average of more than one goal per game) as the team finished runners-up in both the 1945 and 1946 Copa América championships. He was joint top goalscorer in the 1945 edition of the tournament, alongside Argentine Norberto Doroteo Méndez, with six goals. He was left off of the Brazilian team that took part at the 1950 FIFA World Cup on home soil, however, as he was considered to be past his prime.[1][4]

Style of play

Described as a "tall and elegant striker" by Christopher Atkins of Bleacher Report,[4] and as "Brazil's Pelé in the 40s" and "the prince of Rio" by Jonathan Wilson of The Guardian,[2] De Freitas is regarded as one of the most talented footballers of all time, and was known for his entertaining playing style, although he was also a perfectionist and a highly competitive player, who often served as a captain. Despite his temperament, he struggled to cope with pressure at times, and had difficulties with controlling his nerves and temper, which occasionally led him to commit rash challenges; moreover, he was notorious for his lack of discipline, poor work-rate, inconsistency, and rebellious character, which caused him problems with his managers, teammates, opponents, and officials, and as a result, he was frequently sent off and suspended throughout his career due to his involvement in several controversial incidents and altercations. His problems in his personal life and Bohemian lifestyle off the pitch also had a negative impact on his performances in his later career.[1][2][4][5][6] He started out playing on the beach as a hard–tackling central defender or as a central defensive midfielder in his youth; however, during his time with the Fluminense youth side, his manager Carlo Carlomagno decided to deploy him as a centre-forward, in order to limit his possibility of committing fouls and being booked.[7][8] He excelled in this new attacking role, due to his speed, technique, vision, passing, intelligence, positioning, ability to read the game, heading, and accurate finishing ability with his feet, which made him a prolific goalscorer. Although he primarily played upfront, he was often known for dropping into midfield in order to retrieve the ball, as he preferred to play with the ball at his feet. He was also known for his ability to lose his markers and get into positions from which he could receive the ball and shoot, as well as his ability to play with his back to goal.[1][6][9][10][11] Heleno was later nicknamed the Cursed Prince.[11]

Legacy

Heleno de Freitas was biographed by Marcos Eduardo Neves in the book Nunca houve um homem como Heleno (meaning "There was never a man like Heleno" in Portuguese), which was first published in 2006. The title of this book is a reference to his mocking nickname Gilda. He was nicknamed after Rita Hayworth's iconic character in the eponymous film due to his good looks and hot temper; the poster for the film included the caption: "There never was a woman like Gilda," from which the title of De Freitas's biography is derived.[11][12][13][14] During his time playing in Colombia, De Freitas met Gabriel García Márquez, who was a young journalist at the time; regarding De Freitas, Márquez commented: "As a football player, Heleno de Freitas could blow hot and cold. But he was more than just a centre-forward. He was a permanent opportunity for others to speak ill of him."[2] In Colombia a Colombian writer and sports reporter Andrés Salcedo wrote a Book namely "El día en que el Fútbol Murió: Triunfo y tragedia de un dios" (meaning: "The day when soccer died: Triumph and tragedy of a god") including Heleno de Freitas as the main character.[15][16][17]

In 2012, Brazilian filmmaker José Henrique Fonseca released a film based on the life of Heleno de Freitas. The film was titled Heleno and stars Rodrigo Santoro as Heleno de Freitas.[18] The film's focus is more on Heleno de Freitas' personal life, particularly his decline into ether addiction and mental illness, rather than presenting his achievements on the soccer field.[2]

Personal life and death

De Freitas was married to Ilma; the pair eventually split, and she went on to marry Heleno's best friend.[2][11] Throughout his career, he was notorious for his turbulent lifestyle off the pitch; he was known to be a womaniser, and would often stay out all night and spend the evenings in ballrooms. He also smoked, drank, and was known for gambling. Moreover, he struggled with drug addiction as well mental health issues. He died from complications related to late-stage, untreated syphilis in 1959 in a sanatorium in Barbacena, at the age of 39.[1][2][4][11]

Honours

Club

Botafogo

  • Torneio Inicio: 1947
  • Campeonato Carioca de Aspirantes: 1944, 1945
  • Campeonato Carioca de Amadores: 1944, 1943, 1944
  • Copa Burgos: 1941
  • Taça Prefeito Dr. Durval Neves da Rocha: 1942

Vasco da Gama

Santos

  • Quadrangular de Belo Horizonte: 1951

International

Brazil

Individual
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References
  1. "Heleno, un personaje de cine" (in Spanish). FIFA.com. 30 March 2012. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  2. Wilson 2012
  3. "A passagem relâmpago de Heleno pelo Santos" [The express stint of Heleno for Santos] (in Portuguese). O Curioso do Futebol. 15 April 2015. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  4. Atkins, Christopher (15 January 2013). "Pele and the 20 Greatest Brazilian Footballers of All Time". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  5. Neves 2006, p. 17
  6. Neves 2006, p. 41
  7. Neves 2006, p. 35
  8. "Heleno de Freitas". Sambafoot. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  9. Neves 2006, p. 50
  10. Salvioni, Medardo (13 June 1948). "Un centro attacco brasiliano nuovo idolo delle folle argentine". Il Corriere dello Sport (in Italian). p. 3. Archived from the original on 15 October 2013.
  11. "How Garrincha killed Heleno". Medium. 23 May 2016. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  12. "As luvas pretas da Gilda" (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 20 July 2012.
  13. "Que fim levou? Heleno de Freitas" (in Portuguese).
  14. "Entre a glória e a tragédia" (in Portuguese).
  15. "'El día en que el fútbol murió', un relato sobre Heleno de Freitas" (in Spanish).
  16. "Amazon link of the book" (in Spanish).
  17. "Spanish blog review of the book" (in Spanish).
  18. "Professional review about the film "Heleno"" (in Portuguese).
  19. Leme de Arruda, Marcelo (21 October 2008). "RSSSF – Championship of Rio de Janeiro 1942". RSSSF.com. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  20. Tabeira, Martín (11 February 2016). "Southamerican Championship 1945 – Scorer's list". RSSSF.com. Retrieved 5 April 2020.

Bibliography
  • Neves, Marcos Eduardo (2006). Nunca houve um homem como Heleno [There was never a man like Heleno] (in Portuguese). Rio de Janeiro: Ediouro Publicações. p. 327. ISBN 85-00-01683-3. Retrieved 6 April 2020.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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