ADEMIR

Ademir Marques de Menezes, known simply as Ademir, was one of world football's most prolific strikers in the years after the Second World War. Born in Recifé, he started his career at home town club Esporto and scored many of the goals that led the club to consecutive league championships in Pernambuco State. It was only a matter of time before Ademir moved to a bigger club, and in 1942 he moved to Vasco da Gama, where he helped the club to the Rio State Championship in 1945. That same year saw Ademir make his international debut for Brazil, and he would score five goals as Brazil finished as runners-up in the Copa America. A move to Vasco's Rio rivals Fluminense followed, where he won another Rio State title in 1946.

After a three year spell at Fluminense, Ademir returned to Vasco da Gama in 1948, and enjoyed the greatest success of his career in an eight year spell at the club. Vasco won four more Rio State Championships, and Ademir twice finished as leading goalscorer in the league. Vasco also won the first South American Club Championship in 1948.

Domestic success was accompanied by international success, as Ademir scored a hat-trick in the 1949 Copa America final to give Brazil the title. World Cup victory was expected to follow in 1950 with Brazil hosting the tournament, and Ademir proved to be one of the stars of the tournament. He scored nine goals and finished as the tournament's leading scorer, but Brazil failed at the last hurdle when they lost the final match 2-1 to Uruguay.

Despite that disappointment, Ademir continued to enjoy success with Vasco and by the time he retired from playing in 1956 he had become the club's record goalscorer, a record he still holds today. In total, he scored 301 senior goals for Vasco da Gama. Following his retirement, Ademir became a radio commentator in Brazil. He died in 1996, aged 73.