Falcão

Paulo Roberto Falcão was a Brazilian football midfielder. He arrived in Italy in 1980 after six seasons with Internacional of Porto Alegre in his home country, where he won five regional, and three Brazilian, titles, and was twice the Best Brazilian Footballer of the Year in 1978 and 1979. After joining A. S. Roma, he helped them to win only the second League title in their history in 1983. He scored 22 goals in 107 appearances for Roma and such was his skill and artistry on the field he was known as “Ottavo Re di Roma” (Eighth King of Roma).

In addition to the League title in 1983, Roma and Falcão won the Italian Cup in 1981 and 1984, and also came close to winning the European Cup, but lost on penalties to Liverpool in the final at the Olympic Stadium in Roma. Following a knee injury in 1985, Falcão’s contract was eventually terminated at Roma and he returned to Brazil where he won another regional title with São Paulo before retiring.

Playing for Brazil, Falcão won 29 caps and scored nine goals between 1976-86. He was a member of the outstanding Brazilian team at the 1982 World Cup that contained such names as Toninho Cerezo, Zico, Eder and Socrates. They were expected to win but were eliminated in the second qualifying round after Paolo Rossi scored a hat-trick for Italy in a 3-2 win. After the end of his playing career he went into coaching and had spells as coach of the Brazilian (1990-91) and Japanese national teams (1994-97), without great success.