Dead Zagallo, the 'Professor' of Brazil's Pelé (and later Ronaldo)

They called him 'the Professor' and he is considered a true legend of Brazilian football: Mario Zagallo has passed away at the age of 92, the only one to have been a four-time world champion, as a player and as a coach. 'It is with great sadness that we inform you of the death of our eternal four-time world champion Mario Jorge Lobo Zagallo,' the family's brief post published on social media. And to "honour his memory" the Brazilian football federation has called for seven days of mourning as posts of remembrance and condolence follow one another.

Zagallo played a key role in four of the five world titles won by Seleçao. As a player he won two trophies: in 1958 in Sweden and in 1962 in Chile. On the bench he then led the Brazilian national team to the supreme title in 1970 in Mexico and was assistant coach during the 1994 coronation in the United States. He was coach again in 1998, when Ronaldo's Brazil lost 3-0 at the Stade de France against captain Didier Deschamps' Blues. Only the legendary German Franz Beckenbauer (1974 as a player and 1990 as a coach) and Deschamps, after the Blues' coronation in Russia in 2018, have managed to imitate him. Zagallo, whose statue stands in front of Rio de Janeiro's Nilton Santos stadium, has little exported his talent. Only for the lucrative sirens of the Gulf, between 1976 and 1978 at the helm of Kuwait, then in 1989-90 with the United Arab Emirates with whom he qualified for the only World Cup, played without him, expelled before the tournament for bonus stories.

Born on 9 August 1931 in Maceió, north-east Brazil, to a family of Lebanese and Italian origin, Mario Jorge Lobo Zagallo began his career in 1948 with the modest club America of Rio, then played eight seasons with Flamengo and seven with Botafogo. A very skilful left-back, he defended fiercely for a striker. He became an international in May 1958, before winning his first Jules Rimet trophy at the age of 27 with his glorious teammates Pelé, Garrincha, Didi and Vava 5-2 against Sweden, the host country. Zagallo scored the fourth goal, before assisting Pelé for the fifth.

"Zagallo is like a brother to me. When we arrived in Sweden for the 1958 World Cup, I was 17 years old and the youngest member of the team, and Zagallo along with Zito and Gilmar told me to take me under their protection,' Pelé had said in August 2013 on the occasion of the star player's 82nd birthday. Very superstitious, Zagallo had an unshakeable faith in the number 13 that adorned his jersey. He married his wife on 13 June, lived on the 13th floor, drove his car number 13. And he said he regretted that the 1998 final was played on 12 July. Zagallo hung up his boots in June 1964 before starting coaching two years later, mainly in Brazil (Botafogo, Flamengo, Fluminense, Portuguesa and Vasco da Gama). Coach of Verdeoro during the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, he led Brazil to their third world title with Pelé, Jairzinho, Tostao, Gerson and Carlos Alberto. A tactical genius, he was the first to set up a 5-3-2 capable of transforming into a 3-5-2 in attack.

He left Seleçao for the first time after finishing fourth at the 1974 World Cup and was recalled in 1994 as assistant to Carlos Alberto Parreira during Seleçao's fourth coronation. He replaced Parreira until the 1998 final in France, where Zinedine Zidane's team deprived him of the title. Recalled in 2003 to prepare as technical coordinator for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, he finally ended his career when Brazil went out in the quarter-finals against France (1-0), once again beaten by Zidane.