Football legend Garrincha was a bit of a strange guy – and that’s an understatement.
The Brazilian star, who shared the stage with the phenomenal Pele, played a pivotal role in helping his nation claim back-to-back World Cup titles in 1958 and 1962. The right-winger, born Manuel Francisco dos Santos, stood at 5ft6in and had one leg which was six centimetres shorter than the other, suffering from a bow-leg.
However, despite this, Garrincha went on to achieve legendary status, after he was named in the World Cup All-Star team for the 1958 tournament in Sweden and finished joint top scorer in 1962 in Chile. Yet his performances on the pitch are only half of what makes him a soccer icon, because not only did he play with the GOAT, he also, well, played with a goat.
It has widely been reported that the Brazilian winger, who would have turned 91 last week, lost his virginity to a goat at the age of 12. Perhaps the South American sports writer Eduardo Galeano shouldn’t have once said the footballer could control a football like “a tamed animal”.
The farmyard horror is just a small part of Garrincha’s storied love life. The tragic star, who passed away due to liver cirrhosis as a result of alcoholism aged just 49 in 1983, is said to have fathered 14 children, having slept with hundreds of women across South America.
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He was married twice, first to Nair Marques and later to samba singer Elza Soares – before having an affair with showgirl Angelita Martinez. Garrincha was a dad before he was 20 and a grandfather at 40.
He once ran over his own father in his car, but that’s wasn’t his only motoring catastrophe. Garrincha was also at the wheel when, in April 1969, he crashed into an coming lorry, killing his mother-in-law in the passenger seat. This is said to have led to an increase in his drinking and volatile behaviour.
Having retired twice, once in 1969 and then again in 1972, it has also been claimed that whilst playing for Botafogo, the winger would “eat a really spicy meal” before proceeding to fart in the face of new signings to introduce himself.
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However, as a footballing talent he was virtually peerless, and considered one of the best dribblers the game has ever seen. Speaking about his Brazilian teammate back in 2018, the late Pele said: “I never played with or against anyone better than Garrincha. On the pitch we were team-mates. Off the pitch we were brothers.”
Having been voted into the World Team of the 20th Century by 250 football writers and journalists – Garrincha then came seventh in the FIFA Player of the Century vote.
As the famed Uruguayan writer Galeano once said: “In the entire history of football no one made more people happy. When he was out there, the pitch was a circus ring, the ball a tamed animal, the match a party invitation.
“Garrincha nurtured his pet, the ball, and together they created such mischief that people almost died laughing. He jumped over it, it gambolled around him, hid itself away, skipped off and made him run after it.
“And on the way, his opponents ran into each other.”