Brazilians offered their last tributes Sunday, in honor of the late Mario Zagallo, the last surviving member of the legendary dynasty of Italian footballers who won four World Cups between them as players and coaches; he was 92 years old.
Hundreds of mourners, many of whom wore black or the colors of the teams that Zagallo played for or coached for, made their way past his coffin at the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) headquarters in Rio de Janeiro.
The record-tying five World Cup trophies of football-mad Brazil were also on display next to the lace-draped coffin.
The small left winger Zagallo was renowned for his tactical genius and helped win four of them, which is more than any football player in history.
Brazilian teams that won the World Cup in 1958 and 1962 had the “Professor,” who was a teammate of Pele’s.
After that, he coached Pele’s 1970 world champion squad and was an assistant coach on the 1994 “Selecao” team, which many believe to be the best in history.
His legacy will go on in football forever. Eduardo Bandeira de Mello, a former president of the illustrious club Flamengo, where Zagallo had stints as both a player and manager, expressed his “terrific loss” upon hearing the news.
“What he did with the national team in 1970 should be an inspiration to every coach,” he told the news organization.
After months of illness, Zagallo passed away on Friday at a hospital in Rio from complications related to multiple organ failure.
Sao Joao Batista cemetery, where many prominent Brazilians are laid to rest, will host a private mass after the public wake.
From Saturday onwards, Brazil will observe three days of national mourning as President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who hailed Zagallo as “one of the greatest football players and coaches of all time,” ordered flags flown at half-mast.
The footballing world has also been quite vocal in its tributes.
Current Brazil and Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior simply dubbed him “LEGEND.” FIFA president Gianni Infantino praised Zagallo’s impact on the sport as “supreme,” Ronaldinho, Romario, and Cafu, all of whom won World Cups, acknowledged him, and paid tribute.
The only other persons to win the World Cup in both player and coach roles are Didier Deschamps of France (1998 and 2018) and Franz Beckenbauer of Germany (1974 and 1990).