Zózimo

A refined Brazilian centre-back, Zózimo brought elegance and calm authority to a position often reduced to force. A two-time World Cup winner with Brazil, he was especially important in 1962, offering composure, anticipation and clean use of the ball inside a team remembered mostly for its attacking genius. He was not a brutal stopper, but a cultured defender who played with his head up, read danger early and preferred timing to emergency tackles. At Bangu, he became a long-serving symbol, respected for his technique, intelligence and quiet defensive command. His style had something almost scholarly about it: precise, composed, rarely messy.