KING OF THE WORLD CUP
Tributes pour in for Zagallo
BRAZIL legend Mario Zagallo, the only man to have won four World Cups, has died aged 92.
Zagallo was the last survivor of the Brazil team who won the World Cup in 1958 and repeated the feat four years later.
He then coached the Brazilian side of Pele and Jairzinho — widely regarded as the greatest international side of all time — to glory at the 1970 World Cup.
His final World Cup triumph came as Carlos Alberto Parreira’s assistant in the United States in 1994.
Zagallo was the first to win the World Cup as both player and manager, a feat matched only by Germany’s Franz Beckenbauer and Didier Deschamps of France.
Tributes have poured in for the man Brazil’s players at Mexico in 1970 dubbed The Professor, with president Lula calling him ‘one of the greatest of all time’. Fifa president Gianni Infantino said: ‘In times of need Brazil has looked to The Professor as a calming presence, a steering hand and as a tactical genius.
‘He will be remembered as the godfather of Brazilian football and his presence will be sorely missed by everyone in the game.’
Zagallo, a left winger who also won five state championships for club sides Flamengo and Botafogo as a player, went on to spend 40 years coaching including guiding the UAE to the 1990 World Cup finals.
Zagallo had a chance to win a fifth World Cup when back in charge of Brazil at the 1998 finals in France.
He fell agonisingly short when the men in gold were beaten by the hosts in the final.
His death comes 12 months after the world mourned the death of arguably the greatest player of all time, Brazil’s Pele.