Great Players
The first football idol was Zé Bonfim.
Tará was topscorer of the Pernambucan Championship twice (25 goals in 1938 and 20 goals in 1940).
Givanildo, Fumanchu, Levir Culpi, Nunes, Carlos Alberto, and Ramón were heroes in the 1970s. In the 1973 Brazilian Championship, Ramón was the topscorer with 21 goals.
Birigui was one of Santa Cruz's greatest idols ever. For more than 10 years, he was the main goalkeeper of Santa Cruz. He is one of the 1986–87 State Bi-champions. Much of the success of the team in those campaigns can be credited to Birigui's remarkable performance.
Zé do Carmo had an important role in the 1980s and early 1990s.
In 1989, Rivaldo started his professional career in junior divisions of Santa Cruz FC.
Ricardo Rocha, World Cup champion in 1994, began his career in Santa Cruz. He also was coach of Santa Cruz's professional team without, however, the same success as a player.
In the late 1990s, Nílson (goalkeeper) achieved great popularity. The fans used to call him Paredão (Great Wall).
Read more about this topic: Santa Cruz Futebol Clube
Famous quotes containing the word players:
“People stress the violence. That’s the smallest part of it. Football is brutal only from a distance. In the middle of it there’s a calm, a tranquility. The players accept pain. There’s a sense of order even at the end of a running play with bodies stewn everywhere. When the systems interlock, there’s a satisfaction to the game that can’t be duplicated. There’s a harmony.”
—Don Delillo (b. 1926)
“The players have often mentioned it as an honour to Shakespeare, that in his writing, whatsoever he penned, he never blotted out [a] line. My answer hath been, “Would he had blotted a thousand.””
—Ben Jonson (c. 1572–1637)