Heleno de Freitas - the cursed prince of football

Heleno de Freitas (centre)

Tragic characters have always intrigued me more than winners, who always seem to have their way no matter what. And there is no dearth of both types of individuals in the world of sports. But since I have always sided with the dark horse, this article is about a footballer who belongs to the former category.

He is none other than Heleno de Freitas, the legendary Brazilian striker who ruled the field during the 40s, but still could never do full justice to his amazing talent with the ball. Some have even gone on to claim that if Heleno had kept his playboy personality and volatile temper on a leash, he would now be spoken about in the same breath as Ronaldo and Pelé. But destiny had other things in mind for this stupendous player, as you will soon find out.

Heleno, who was born in the February of 1920 in São João Nepomuceno in Brazil, hailed from a well-respected family, and a career in law was waiting for him in case he cared to take it up as a profession. But Heleno’s love for the beautiful game stopped him from doing that and he took up football professionally, which turned out to be both heroic and tragic for him.

The world of football wasn’t that glamorous at that time, as there was no internet and hardly any television coverage which would enable the people to follow every single move of their icons. Besides, Heleno started his professional career at a time when the Second World War was imminent, and ended his career in the aftermath of that great battle, when the world was still coming to terms with the devastation that the war had caused.

Needless to say, football was the last thing on people’s minds during that time. But the fact that Heleno could still garner so much interest in the tabloids, through his exceptional footballing skills and playboy lifestyle, shows that there was definitely something mercurial about this man, good or bad.

Heleno began his senior football career in 1939 at the Brazilian club Botafogo, where he stayed on for the next decade and established himself as the leading striker for his country. He scored a mammoth 209 goals from just 235 appearances for Botafogo but curiously, won barely any significant silverware during his time there. He did help Botafogo win the Roca Cup in 1945 and become the Rio Branco Cup champions in 1947, but these achievements don’t at all do any justice to the genius that was Heleno.

After a year with Boca Juniors of Argentina in 1948, where he scored seven goals in 17 appearances, Heleno came back to play for Brazilian club Vasco da Gama, where his scintillating footballing skills helped them win the 1949 edition of the Campeonato Carioca (Rio de Janeiro State League championship). But by then, his errant lifestyle and drug habits had started to get the better of him and he left to ply his trade with Columbian club Atlético Junior in 1950, going on to score nine goals for them in 15 games.

In 1951, Heleno’s attempt at reviving his football career in Brazil ended in abjectly as he played just one game for his new team América, in the legendary Estádio do Maracanã in Rio which had just been unveiled at the World Cup held in Brazil the previous year.

More than just his club career, it is Heleno’s exploits with the Brazilian national team that helped him achieve cult status amongst football lovers. But here too fate seemed to scheme against him, and in spite of being the best striker in Brazil at that time, he played in just 18 games, scoring 19 goals in the process – a strike rate of more than one goal per game which many of the best footballers have failed to achieve.

Heleno, in the new movie based on the footballer’s life

Firstly, Brazil withdrew from the 1939 and 1941 editions of the Copa America (known as South American Championship then), thus denying Heleno a chance to have a shot at the cup. He was then left out of the 1942 edition for reasons best known to the coach, and Brazil finished a pathetic third, behind winners Uruguay and runners-up Argentina.

Heleno finally got his chance in the 1945 edition, where he scored seven goals and shared the honour of being top-scorer with Norberto Méndez of Argentina. But Brazil’s loss to Argentina, led by Méndez’s hat-trick, cost them the championship, which was played in a single round-robin format.

In the 1946 edition too, Heleno had a decent run, scoring three goals, but again Argentina got the better of Brazil in their group game led by a brace from Méndez, and Brazil had to be content with the runners-up position once more.

Heleno was denied his vengeance as Brazil again withdrew from the 1947 Copa America, and by the time the 1949 championship was held, the dangerous attacking trio of Jair, Zizinho and Ademir had found favour with the Brazilian coach and Heleno was conveniently overlooked for the team.

But it is the World Cup which is regarded as the most tragic event for Prince Cursed. First and foremost, he lost the chance to play in two World Cups as the 1942 and 1946 editions of the Cup were never held due to the Second World War. And by the time the 1950 edition came, his career was on a downward spiral, thanks to a superstar lifestyle which went to his head, and his split personality, which won him more enemies than friends.

He blew the little hope that he had of playing in the 1950 World Cup when he fell out with his then Vasco coach Flavio Costa, who was incidentally the coach of the Brazilian national team as well. Their petty differences finally gave way to a major confrontation during which Heleno pointed an empty gun at Costa’s head and pulled the trigger, virtually ending his national career.

Although the famed Brazilian attacking trio named above, who had helped Brazil win the 1949 Copa America, did enthral everyone with their attractive breed of football, they finally fell 2-1 to Uruguay in the de facto final (there was no real final as the tournament was decided by a round robin between the four top teams) held at the Maracanã stadium.

Many still claim that had Heleno been in the team the result would have been very different, for he was one player who scored goals without caring a bit about who the opponents were. But what could have happened is just conjecture now, and the fact remains that Brazil had to wait until 1958 to finally win the first of their five World Cups, all thanks to the inimitable Pelé.

A movie was made on Heleno’s life by Brazilian filmmaker José Henrique Fonseca in 2011, starring Rodrigo Santoro (more famous as Xerxes in the movie 300) in the title role. This movie focussed on the personal life of Heleno, which was even more tragic than his professional career.

If his dual personality alienated him from many of his friends and fellow players, and gave him the nickname Gilda, it was his drug habits and relationship with the opposite sex that further spelled his doom. He caught syphilis and got addicted to ether. His refusal to get treated for the disease finally led him to a mental asylum, where he breathed his last at the young age of 39 in Barbacena, Brazil, although his affliction made him look like 70 then.

Thus the cursed life of Heleno de Freitas came to a terrible end and with it the world lost a true footballing hero who, with a bit of luck and some self-restraint, would have definitely gone on to join the list of soccer legends. But destiny had other things in mind and the fallen prince of football could never reclaim his lost throne.