Garrincha's tale is an inspiring story of a man who overcame

multiple birth defects to become one of football's greatest

stars. With him Brazil won two consecutive World Cups in
1958 and 1962.

Biography
Garrincha was born with a deformed spine and a right leg that
was six centimeters longer than his left. In addition to his
unsightly physical attributes, he was also quite small for his age;
With his doctors claiming he was unfit to play football, Garrincha
decided to prove them wrong.
At 19 years old, he joined a Botafogo training session; once there,
he displayed his extraordinary talent by dribbling all around Nílton
Santos, a respected member of the Brazil national team.
When he quickly realized that he would never want to face this
young man as a rival, Santos urged the club's management to hire
Garrincha.
• Garrincha started off his professional career by scoring a hat-trick against Bonsucesso in his first
game for the club. During the next five years at Botafogo, he emerged as one of the greatest
right-wingers in the world and a one-man wrecking crew. The opposing defenders had a hard
time watching the tricky dribbler, even if they knew that he prefered going to the right, his
explosiveness made him one step ahead. His skillful and slightly arrogant style of play and a
seemingly endless repertoire of dribbles and feints quickly made him a fan
favorite wherever he went. In 1957,
he led Botafogo to their first
Campeonato Carioca title in nine years.
• With his sensational displays at Botafogo, nobody was surprised when
Garrincha was called up to the 1958 World Cup national squad. That Brazil
team was especially famous for its attacking prowess, with Garrincha, Didi,
Vavá, Mário Zagallo and a 17-year-old Pelé providing the ammunition. After
sitting out the first two games, Garrincha started against the formidable
Soviet Union; it took him only three minutes to throw the opposition into
disarray by dribbling past two defenders and hitting the post. Brazil
eventually won the game 2-0, with Garrincha's impressive performance
ensuring that he started every game from there on out. After setting up the
first two of his side's goals in the final against Sweden – which Brazil won in
dominating fashion 5-2 – Garrincha was voted to the World Cup's All-Star
Team.