Paulo Falcão

The Eighth King of Rome — Falcão's five seasons at AS Roma in the early 1980s were among the finest individual performances by any player in Italian football history, earning him a second nickname that acknowledged the popular reverence of the Roman public. As the central midfielder of Brazil's 1982 World Cup team, his partnership with Zico, Sócrates and Cerezo in a side playing the most spectacular football the tournament had seen made him one of the most admired players of his generation globally. His tactical intelligence, range of passing and decisive goal-scoring at the highest levels of the game were without parallel among defensive midfielders of his era

Paulo Roberto Falcão was born on 16 October 1953 in Abelardo Luz, in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, and joined Internacional's youth ranks, making his professional debut for the Porto Alegre club in 1972. He spent eight seasons there, winning three Brazilian national championships and helping Internacional reach the 1980 Copa Libertadores final, developing a reputation as one of the finest attacking midfielders in South American football. Despite his obvious talent, Falcão was surprisingly left out of Brazil's squad for the 1978 World Cup, a decision that puzzled many observers given his outstanding domestic form. He responded by winning Brazil's Golden Ball award as the best player in the national championship in both 1978 and 1979, achieving the highest score in the award's history in the latter year — a run of dominance that made his continued international absence all the more notable. Falcão moved to Italy's Roma in 1980, becoming one of the first wave of South American stars to make a major impact in Serie A, and helped the club win its first Scudetto in over 40 years in 1983, along with reaching the 1984 European Cup final on home soil in Rome, which they lost on penalties to Liverpool. His elegant, powerful playmaking style made him a fan favourite in the Italian capital. Falcão eventually earned 34 caps for Brazil, representing the country at the 1982 World Cup as part of one of the most celebrated attacking teams never to win the tournament, alongside Zico and Sócrates. After retiring in 1986 with a brief spell at São Paulo, he moved into management, taking charge of the Brazilian national team and several club sides across Brazil and Japan over the following decades.

Deep-lying playmaker with exceptional passing range and tactical intelligence

Considered one of Brazil's greatest midfielders and a Roma legend

• Serie A 1983 (Roma)
• Copa América
• 34 Brazil caps
• Copa América 1979

Club Career

Club	Period	Apps	Goals
Internacional	1972–1980	342	58
Roma	1980–1985	107	22
São Paulo	1985–1986	12	0
Brazil	—	34	6