Dirceu

Dirceu

Walter Schachner and Dirceu with Avellino in 1986–87 season
Personal information
Full name	Dirceu José Guimarães
Date of birth	(1952-06-15)15 June 1952
Place of birth	Curitiba, Brazil
Date of death	15 September 1995(1995-09-15) (aged 43)
Place of death	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Height	1.72 m (5 ft 7+1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Attacking midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1970–1972	Coritiba	26	(1)
1973–1976	Botafogo	52	(9)
1976	Fluminense	22	(2)
1977–1978	Vasco da Gama	25	(2)
1978–1979	América	45	(2)
1979–1982	Atlético Madrid	84	(18)
1982–1983	Verona	29	(2)
1983–1984	Napoli	30	(5)
1984–1985	Ascoli	27	(5)
1985–1986	Como	25	(2)
1986–1987	Avellino	23	(6)
1988	Vasco da Gama	??	(?)
1988	Miami Sharks	17	(5)
1989–1991	Ebolitana	39	(14)
1991	Harvey Bologna (futsal)	20	(8)
1992	Benevento	11	(4)
1992–1993	Giampaoli Ancona (futsal)	??	(?)
1995	Atlético Yucatán	??	(?)
International career
1973–1986	Brazil	44	(7)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Dirceu José Guimarães, known as Dirceu (Portuguese pronunciation: [dʒiʁˈsew]; 15 June 1952 – 15 September 1995), was a football player from Brazil. He played as an attacking midfielder with many teams, in particular Botafogo and the Brazilian national team, as well as numerous Italian teams in the 1980s-early 1990s.

Biography

Dirceu was born at Curitiba, in southern Brazil. In his early career he played for Coritiba, Botagofo (1971–1975), Fluminense (1975–1977) and Vasco da Gama in his country, before spending one year in Mexico at América. In 1979, he signed for Atlético Madrid, where he remained until 1982, playing 84 games and scoring 18 goals. In 1982, he signed for Italian team Hellas Verona, the first of five Italian Serie A teams which he changed yearly (the last being Avellino in 1986–1987), before returning to Vasco da Gama. In 1988 Dirceu played in the USA for Fort Lauderdale Strikers, and in 1989–1991 he played again in southern Italy, this time for Ebolitana (1989–1992) and Benevento (1991–1992). His last teams was Atlético Yucatán in Mexico, where he ended his career in 1995.

He died on the night of September 15, 1995, at age 43, when an Opel Ascona driven by a street racer ran a red light and hit his Puma at high speed in Barra da Tijuca, not too far from his apartment. Dirceu and a passenger, who was thrown out of the vehicle following the crash, died immediately. There were two couples in the Ascona; all four of them survived and nobody was prosecuted for Dirceu's death.

The Ebolitana named its arena at Eboli the Stadio José Guimarães Dirceu in his honor.

National team

Dirceu won 44 caps (14 non-official), between June 1973 and May 1986, with the Brazilian national team, scoring seven goals.

He played the Football World Cup 1974, Football World Cup 1978 and Football World Cup 1982. He was due to go to the 1986 tournament, but was ruled out by injury. He played 11 games and scored three goals in his World Cup appearances.

Honours

Club

• Winner: Campeonato Paranaense (Paraná State championship) in 1971 and 1972 with Coritiba
• Winner: Campeonato Carioca (Rio de Janeiro State championship) in 1976 with Fluminense and in 1977 and 1988 with Vasco da Gama

National

• Third place: FIFA World Cup in 1978 with Brazil
• Fourth place: FIFA World Cup in 1974 with Brazil

Individual

• 1978 FIFA World Cup: All-Star Team
• 1978 FIFA World Cup: Bronze Ball
• South American Player of the Year: Bronze award 1978

External links

• Dirceu at National-Football-Teams.com