Vavá
Brazilian footballer (1934–2002)
title: "Vavá" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1934-births", "2002-deaths", "footballers-from-recife", "brazilian-men's-footballers", "atlético-madrid-footballers", "club-américa-footballers", "cr-vasco-da-gama-players", "footballers-at-the-1952-summer-olympics", "olympic-footballers-for-brazil", "1958-fifa-world-cup-players", "1962-fifa-world-cup-players", "fifa-world-cup–winning-players", "la-liga-players", "são-paulo-state-football-team-players", "se-palmeiras-players", "brazil-men's-international-footballers", "brazilian-expatriate-men's-footballers", "brazilian-expatriate-sportspeople-in-the-united-states", "expatriate-men's-soccer-players-in-the-united-states", "brazilian-expatriate-sportspeople-in-mexico", "expatriate-men's-footballers-in-mexico", "al-rayyan-sc-managers", "expatriate-men's-footballers-in-spain", "liga-mx-players", "north-american-soccer-league-(1968–1984)-players", "san-diego-toros-players", "associação-portuguesa-de-desportos-players", "la-liga-managers", "granada-cf-managers", "córdoba-cf-managers", "men's-association-football-forwards", "brazilian-football-managers", "brazilian-expatriate-sportspeople-in-qatar", "qatar-stars-league-managers", "expatriate-football-managers-in-qatar", "expatriate-football-managers-in-spain", "brazilian-expatriate-sportspeople-in-spain", "20th-century-brazilian-sportsmen"] description: "Brazilian footballer (1934–2002)" topic_path: "science/astronomy" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vavá" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Brazilian footballer (1934–2002) ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox football biography"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Vavá |
| image | Vavá en 1962.jpg |
| caption | Vavá in 1962 |
| fullname | Edvaldo Izídio Neto |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Recife, Brazil |
| death_date | |
| death_place | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| height | |
| position | Striker |
| years1 | 1949–1950 |
| clubs1 | Sport Recife |
| caps1 | |
| totalcaps | 697 |
| nationalyears1 | 1955–1964 |
| nationalteam1 | Brazil |
| nationalcaps1 | 20 |
| manageryears1 | 1971–1972 |
| manageryears2 | 1974–1975 |
| manageryears3 | 1977–1978 |
| manageryears4 | 1984–1985 |
| :: |
|name=Vavá |image= Vavá en 1962.jpg |caption= Vavá in 1962 |fullname=Edvaldo Izídio Neto |birth_date = |birth_place = Recife, Brazil |death_date = |death_place = Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |height= |position=Striker |youthyears1= |youthclubs1= | years1 = 1949–1950 | years2 = 1951–1958 | years3 = 1958–1961 | years4 = 1961–1963 | years5 = 1964–1967 | years6 = 1967–1968 | years7 = 1968 | years8 =1969 | clubs1 = Sport Recife | clubs2 = Vasco da Gama | clubs3 = Atlético Madrid | clubs4 = Palmeiras | clubs5 = América | clubs6 = Toros Neza | clubs7 = San Diego Toros | clubs8 = Portuguesa | caps1 = | goals1 = | caps2 = 456 | goals2 = 191 | caps3 = 71 | goals3 = 31 | caps4 =142 | goals4 =71 | caps5 = | goals5 = | caps6 = | goals6 = | caps7 = 28 | goals7 = 5| caps8 = | goals8 = | totalcaps = 697 | totalgoals = 298 |nationalyears1=1955–1964 |nationalteam1=Brazil |nationalcaps1= 20 | nationalgoals1 = 15 |manageryears1= 1971–1972 |managerclubs1= Córdoba |manageryears2= 1974–1975 |managerclubs2= Córdoba |manageryears3= 1977–1978 |managerclubs3= Granada |manageryears4= 1984–1985 |managerclubs4= Al Rayyan |medaltemplates = Edvaldo Izidio Neto (12 November 1934 – 19 January 2002), commonly known as Vavá, was a Brazilian professional footballer who is widely considered to be one of the greatest strikers of his generation. Nicknamed "Peito de Aço" (Steel Chest), he most notably played for Vasco da Gama, Atlético Madrid, Palmeiras and the Brazil national team.
International career
Vavá earned twenty caps with the Brazil national team between 1955 and 1964, scoring a total of fifteen goals. He was in the side that won both the 1958 and 1962 FIFA World Cups, in which he scored five and four goals, respectively. Furthermore, he was a joint-recipient of the 1962 World Cup Golden Boot as one of the tournament's top scorers. Vavá was also part of Brazil's squad for the 1952 Summer Olympics.
Vavá scored in the World Cup finals of both 1958 (twice) and 1962 (once), thus becoming the first player to score in two finals. Only five players have achieved this feat, the other four being Pelé, Paul Breitner, Zinedine Zidane, and Kylian Mbappé. He remained the only player to have scored in two consecutive World Cup final matches until Mbappé achieved the feat in 2022, having also scored in the final in 2018.
Club statistics
::data[format=table] | Club performance | League | Season | Club | League | Apps | Goals | Spain | League | Country | Spain | 71||31 | United States | League | Country | United States | 28||5 | Total | 99||36 | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | 1958–59 | Atlético Madrid | La Liga | 27 | 16 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 1959–60 | 29 | 10 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 1960–61 | 15 | 5 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 1968 | San Diego Toros | North American Soccer League | 28 | 5 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ::
Honours
Club
Sport Recife
- Campeonato Pernambucano: 1949
Vasco da Gama
- Campeonato Carioca: 1952, 1956, 1958
- Torneio Rivadavia Correa Meyer: 1953
- Tournoi de Paris: 1957
- Torneio Rio–São Paulo: 1958
Atlético de Madrid
Palmeiras
Club América
International
Brazil national football team
Individual
References
Sources
- VAVÁ Ex-atacante do Vasco, Palmeiras e Seleção by Gustavo Grohmann
- Vavá… o peito de aço
- Vava, Edvaldo Izidio Neto de son vrai nom
References
- Burnton, Simon. (21 January 2002). "Brazilian legend Vava dies aged 67".
- (20 January 2002). "Brazil legend Vava dies".
- "Vavá". Olympedia.
- Stead, Matt. (15 November 2025). "Kylian Mbappe's ridiculous career records".
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::