Dida BiographyNickname
The origin of his nickname is unknown, but as a youth he was a fan of Brazilian club Flamengo, which also featured a star player named Dida. It is possible that this was the inspiration for his moniker, though it has not been determined. He is regularly called Nelson Dida by the European press.
Dida is also referred to as The Black Panther, an homage to his leaping ability and quick reflexes, by Milan fans. An Italian variation of this name is Baghera la pantera, which is a reference to Bagheera from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book.
Trivia
- Dida is a three-time nominee of the IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper Award. He finished with the fourth-highest number of votes in 2003, was third behind winner Buffon and Chelsea's Petr Čech in 2004, and was the runner-up to Čech in 2005. He was also voted keeper of the year at the inaugural FIFPro World XI Player Awards in 2005, one of five Milan players to make the squad. He has been nominated for the Ballon d'Or twice, in 2003 and 2005.
- He set the Champions League record for consecutive clean sheets with seven in 2004-05, but Arsenal's Jens Lehmann surpassed it with ten straight shutouts the following season.
- Dida became the first Afro-Brazilian goalkeeper to start in the World Cup finals since the late Moacyr Barbosa in the 1950 competition that saw Uruguay shock Brazil 2-1 in the championship match. He is also the only Brazilian goalie ever to be known by his nickname.
- Prior to the '06 World Cup, he spent a team-record fourteen consecutive matches on the bench without playing time, in the 1998 and 2002 finals combined.
- His role models included Taffarel and Russian netminder Rinat Dasaev, whom he watched on television in the 1982 World Cup. (In an interview with FIFA Magazine, Dida admitted crying over Brazil's defeat to eventual champions Italy.) He had always aspired to become Brazil's starting goalie since childhood, which is an anomaly in itself considering that Brazilian keepers traditionally began as, or preferred to be, goalscorers. However, he frequently played attacking positions during Brazil training sessions, and even scored a hat-trick during a practice game in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany, on June 26, 2006.
- During another Brazilian training session, Dida attempted to imitate the "scorpion kick" save that was made famous by Colombian goalkeeper René Higuita over a decade earlier. He wound up kicking the ball into the roof of the net.
- His trademark series of distinctive hairstyles began early in the 2002-03 season with Milan, with two long notches shaved into the left side of his scalp, which commemmorated Brazil's win over Germany in the 2002 World Cup final and his 2000 FIFA World Club Championship victory with Corinthians, and they were modified into the shape of a lightning bolt for the 2003 CL final. Since then, they have evolved into more elaborate designs.
- In 2004, he skipped Milan's Scudetto celebration in order to dine at Picanhas, a popular Brazilian restaurant located in Milano.
- Despite never playing a match during his brief tenure at FC Lugano, Dida received a warm reception from the fans during training sessions that were held by the Brazilian squad in Weggis, Switzerland prior to the World Cup finals. During the team's two-week stay in Weggis, he also organized a Ping-Pong tournament in which many of his teammates, such as Lúcio, Robinho, Fred, Ronaldinho, and Ronaldo, participated. He was defeated by Juninho Pernambucano in the championship match, and the winner's trophy was even named after him.
- In March 2005, Dida played a publicized match of Subbuteo with Inter captain Javier Zanetti, and in September, fans had the opportunity to place bids on the Italian version of eBay in order to win a dinner date with him. Proceeds from both events were donated to charity.
- Even though Dida didn't play a minute in Brazil's 2002 World Cup-winning campaign, his hometown of Irará honored him with a victory parade, in which he appeared.
- He celebrated the grand opening of his Belo Horizonte-based fitness center, Dida Training, in September 1998.
- Dida participated in five consecutive FIFA Confederations Cups (1997-2005), becoming only the third player to accomplish the feat since Mexico's Antonio Carbajal and Germany's Lothar Matthaeus, and was also the lone goalie to save a penalty in the 2005 edition.
- Since 2004, he and Gigi Buffon have together served as spokesmen for Italian jewelry manufacturer Fibo. The long-running advertising campaign featuring the two players is scheduled to end in December 2006.
Dida's club career began in 1990, at the age of 16, with small Alagoas team Cruzeiro de Arapiraca. Two seasons later, he returned to his home state after being signed by Bahia club Vitória, who would win the Bahia state championship in 1992. After winning the 1993 Under-21 FIFA Youth Championship as Brazil's first-choice keeper, he made 24 first-team appearances for Vitória that season.
He was acquired by Cruzeiro in 1994, where he would win three Minas Gerais state titles, the 1996 Copa do Brasil and the 1997 Copa Libertadores, all within a span of five seasons. But with this success soon came a burning desire to ply his trade in Europe. In 1999, Dida announced that he would be leaving Cruzeiro to sign with Italian powerhouse A.C. Milan.
A.C. Milan
Dida's request to opt out of the remainder of his contract with Cruzeiro in order to go to Europe drew the Raposa management's anger, and thus kicked off an ugly dispute that lasted for five months, during which he suited up for Switzerland club FC Lugano just to keep in game shape. But when the issue was finally resolved and Dida formally joined Milan (following a transfer sum the team paid to Cruzeiro), playing time was hard to come by as incumbent Christian Abbiati already had a firm grip on the #1 jersey. Not only that, veteran Sebastiano Rossi was not to be counted out. In the end, Abbiati was the starter, with Rossi as his deputy, while Dida was third on coach Alberto Zaccheroni's depth chart.
Milan loaned Dida to São Paulo club Corinthians in order to get him some regular first-team action. It was during this time that his renowned penalty-saving skills came to the fore. His saving of two spot-kicks in Corinthians' 3-2 victory over intrastate rivals São Paulo FC - with both penalties taken by Raí - in the semifinal of the 1999 Campeonato Brasileiro provoked the headline "Dida is God" from Rio de Janeiro-based sports publication Lance. In the inaugural FIFA World Club Championship (now known as the FIFA Club World Cup) in 2000, Dida saved a Nicolas Anelka penalty in a 2-2 draw with Real Madrid, and in the final against Vasco da Gama, Corinthians won the title in a 4-3 penalty shoot-out after Edmundo's shot went wide.
Milan recalled Dida for the 2000-01 season, and a chance to impress the team brass awaited at the beginning of the new Champions League campaign. He was now in the starting lineup, since Abbiati was away with Italy competing at the Sydney Olympics. A 4-1 group stage win over Beşiktaş J.K. on September 13, 2000 marked his official debut for the club, but it wasn't long before he would be dealt a cruel hand. On September 19, in the 89th minute against Leeds United at a rain-soaked Elland Road, he accidentally dropped the ball into his own goal after catching a Lee Bowyer shot, causing Milan to lose the match 1-0. It was an error of embarrassing proportions that continues to linger to this day, and despite a strong performance and clean sheet in a 2-0 Milan victory over FC Barcelona one week later, he was immediately sent back to the bench following Abbiati's return. He made his first and only Serie A start that season as well, in a 2-0 November loss to Parma F.C. that saw Patrick Mboma score both goals.
To make matters worse, one month after the Leeds debacle, he was among nearly a dozen Serie A players, among them Inter's Alvaro Recoba and Lazio's Juan Sebastián Verón, who were charged with using fraudulent European passports. Dida confessed to falsifying papers in order to obtain a Portuguese passport, in an attempt to dodge the Italian league's limit on non-EU players so he could sign with Milan. FIGC slapped Milan with a £314,000 fine, and banned Dida from the league for one year, in addition to a FIFA-imposed year-long suspension from national team play. In April 2003, following a court appearance in Milano, he was handed a seven-month suspended prison sentence.
Dida subsequently was loaned back to Corinthians for the 2001-02 season following the passport flap. After another impressive campaign that included his second career Copa do Brasil championship, he was brought back to Milan once again for the '02-03 season, which he began on the bench until fate handed him a golden opportunity. On August 14, 2002, Abbiati limped off with a hip injury at halftime of a Champions League qualifying stage match against FC Slovan Liberec. Dida took his place for the second half and turned in a sterling performance that would shockingly result in a new first-choice keeper for Milan.
His European career had suddenly taken off and it would soon lead to him writing his name into Milan history after the 2003 Champions League final at Old Trafford against league rivals Juventus, where his three saves against David Trezeguet, Marcelo Zalayeta and Paolo Montero in the penalty shoot-out, which had followed 120 minutes of goalless play, helped the Rossoneri win their sixth CL title and gained him worldwide prominence. The accolades poured in from his home country as well, as he was labeled "Saint Dida" by Lance and Brazilian newspaper O Globo, while Folha de São Paulo chipped in with the headline "Dida pushes Milan to the top of Europe."
Dida was named the 2003-04 Serie A Goalkeeper of the Year as he conceded only 20 goals in 32 appearances. Despite being hit and felled twice by foreign objects hurled from the crowd by opposing fans, he kept a clean sheet as Milan clinched their 17th Scudetto in club history with a 1-0 win over AS Roma on May 3, 2004. His consistent, eye-catching performances had transformed him into one of the world's top keepers and soon had pundits drawing comparisons between him and Juventus superstar Gianluigi Buffon, but he wasn't bowled over by such accolades. "I have no problem considering Buffon as the best around, because I certainly don't feel at the top," Dida said to Sky Sports in 2004. "I like to think of myself as the worst. Only that way can I find the stimulus to keep on improving."
A Night of Shame
Dida continued his solid form through the first half of the 2004-05 campaign, posting Champions League clean sheets against the likes of Celtic FC and Manchester United, but he would ultimately be remembered by both seasoned and casual football fans for the infamy of the second leg of the CL quarterfinal derby between bitter crosstown rivals AC Milan and Inter Milan on April 12, 2005.
With Milan leading 1-0 (and 3-0 on aggregate) thanks to an early Andriy Shevchenko goal, Inter's hardcore supporters became infuriated after a second-half Esteban Cambiasso score was controversially nullified by referee Markus Merk - who, moments later, booked Cambiasso for dissent - due to the fact that he had just whistled Inter forward Julio Cruz for a foul on Dida in the six-yard box as players were jockeying for position inside the penalty area following an Inter corner kick. Bottles and various debris were subsequently thrown onto the pitch, but soon escalated to lit flares. As Dida attempted to clear bottles in order to take a goal kick, a flare hurtled down from the upper deck and struck the Brazilian international on the back of his right shoulder. Merk halted the match in the 74th minute. After a thirty-minute delay in which firefighters were called in to remove the burning flares from the pitch, the match was restarted. Dida, however, was unable to continue, and was substituted by Abbiati. Less than a minute later, though, Merk finally abandoned the match after more flares and debris rained down. The match was awarded as a 3-0 victory, totaling a 5-0 aggregate, to Milan.
Dida suffered bruising and first-degree burns to his shoulder, but did not miss any game time, as he was back between the posts for Milan's Serie A match on April 17 against Siena. Meanwhile, Inter were fined €200,000 - the largest fine ever handed down by UEFA - and were ordered to play their first four Champions League matches behind closed doors in the 2005-06 season as punishment. (They went unbeaten in all four, scoring three wins and one draw.)
The match was televised to an international audience, but it was the flare incident that would make worldwide headlines. It even drew wide coverage in the United States, with ESPN first breaking the story during a broadcast of Pardon the Interruption. Despite his claims in a Milan Channel press conference the following morning that the incident had not affected him, it was the beginning of a downward spiral for Dida, as his form suddenly dipped. He struggled in the semifinals against PSV Eindhoven and the 2005 Champions League Final against Liverpool F.C., during which goals from Steven Gerrard and Vladimír Šmicer slipped into the back of the net as Milan blew a 3-0 halftime lead in a span of six minutes. With the game tied 3-3 after extra time, Dida was only able to save John Arne Riise's penalty as Liverpool triumphed 3-2 in the shoot-out.
His funk continued into 2005-06, as he inexplicably suffered through a mistake-riddled season, most notably in matches against Parma, Sampdoria, Olympique Lyonnais, and both derby legs against Inter. The nadir of his campaign came during a 1-1 draw with Sampdoria on January 31, 2006, in which a strike by Andrea Gasbarroni bounced awkwardly off his right shoulder and into the net as he attempted a standing underhand catch. This mistake, which contributed to the end of Milan's 100-percent home record, led to speculation in the media that he was in serious danger of being dropped from the starting lineup, with the likes of Inter's Francesco Toldo and Livorno's Marco Amelia lined up to replace him, while Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira publicly declared that his starting position for the upcoming World Cup was not secure. Dida, however, maintained his spot for the season, missing only two Serie A matches while recovering from a sprained ankle suffered during a Champions League match in February against FC Bayern Munich. Though Milan's attempt to return to the CL final fell short in the semifinals following a 1-0 loss at home to Barcelona and an 0-0 draw at Camp Nou, which saw the Rossoneri bow out 1-0 on aggregate, that series was the start of a revival of his form, as he performed several crucial stops against Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto'o and Henrik Larsson in both legs.
The 2006-07 season so far has seen him pick up where he left off since the Barcelona series and the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Following a strike by Lazio's Stephen Makinwa in Milan's 2-1 opening-day victory on September 10, Dida did not allow a Serie A goal for 446 minutes until Emiliano Bonazzoli scored for Sampdoria in a 1-1 draw on October 15. He also has allowed only one Champions League goal in three group stage wins over AEK Athens and RSC Anderlecht along with a goalless draw against LOSC Lille. Dida made his 200th appearance for Milan in a 1-0 defeat of Ascoli on September 20, 2006.
Homeward Bound?
His contract with Milan is due to expire in 2007, but he has yet to sign an extension. On July 20, 2006, his agent declared that he would stay with Milan and honor the last year of his deal, which followed an announcement from Milan team director Ariedo Braida that Dida would not be sold despite his contract situation. Milan openly expressed interest nonetheless in acquiring Buffon from relegated Juventus as a replacement, and as of August 6, 2006, reports had also surfaced of Dida possibly returning for a third stint with Corinthians as part of a Milan deal for Carlos Tevez. However, Tevez later signed with West Ham and Buffon elected to remain with Juve for their stay in Serie B. Therefore, no transactions took place as the Serie A summer transfer window closed on August 31st. On October 1, Milan vice president Adriano Galliani said on Italian television, "If he doesn’t put pen to paper, Dida would remain our first choice until the last day of the season. I hope he does extend, and he’s never said that he won’t, but he’s not irreplaceable.”
National Team
With 91 appearances in 11 years, Dida is Brazil's third-highest capped goalie, trailing only Émerson Leão (107 matches) and Cláudio Taffarel (101). He made his Canarinho debut at the 1993 Under-21 FIFA World Youth Championship in Australia, where Brazil won the championship for a third time, while his first match for the Seleção came in a 1-0 defeat of Ecuador on July 7, 1995.
Dida was the starting keeper for Brazil at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, but an error-laden campaign from Brazil, among them a penalty-area collision involving him and teammate Aldair, played a role in defeats to Nigeria and Japan and left Brazil with the bronze medal. Despite the fact that Dida had started in the FIFA Confederations Cup the following year, coach Mario Zagallo lured Taffarel out of retirement and back into the #1 jersey for the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, which Dida would watch in its entirety from the bench. In 1999, however, he did his part in Brazil's Copa América victory, conceding only twice while posting four shutouts in six matches, in addition to saving a Roberto Ayala penalty that preserved a 2-1 win over archrivals Argentina in the quarterfinals.
Despite Dida's run of good form with Corinthians at the time of the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan, Luiz Felipe Scolari, who had replaced the fired Wanderley Luxemburgo following Brazil's lackluster qualification, made Marcos his number one. Dida and third-choice keeper Rogério Ceni were the only team members who received no playing time in the tournament as Brazil lifted the WC trophy for an historic fifth time.
Dida also starred for Brazil in the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup and played four out of five matches (Marcos made one appearance, in a 2-2 draw with Japan, due to squad rotation), conceding four goals and ranking second in total saves behind Mexico's Oswaldo Sánchez, and German football magazine Kicker even named him the best keeper of the tournament. One memorable moment of the competition was during Brazil's 1-0 semifinal loss to Mexico, when he saved a Jared Borgetti spot kick that had to be retaken twice due to repeated player encroachment into the penalty area. Brazil have won the competition twice, in 1997 and 2005, and Dida was the first-choice keeper on both occasions.
There were fears that his poor 2005-06 season with Milan would result in his spending a third straight WC on the bench, but such worries were alleviated as Dida proved to be one of Brazil's best performers at the 2006 World Cup. He conceded only two goals in five matches as Brazil defeated Croatia 1-0, Australia 2-0, Japan 4-1, and Ghana 3-0. Unfortunately, a sixth title would evade heavily-favored Brazil after a sluggish 1-0 loss to France in the quarterfinals, a match which saw the Verdeamarelha manage only one shot on goal in the entire contest and led to Parreira's resignation two weeks after the conclusion of the tournament. Due to his consistent play in goal, Dida was one of the few Seleção players to avoid the wrath of the fans and Brazilian media following the team's elimination. He assumed the role of captain against Japan when regular skipper Cafu was rested for that match, and also when Cafu was substituted in the second half against France, thus becoming only the second Brazilian goalie ever to wear the armband since Emerson Leão in the 1978 World Cup.
Brazil's loss to France ultimately became Dida's swan song. On October 1, 2006, news broke that he had officially put an end to his international career, thus becoming the third player on Brazil's '06 WC squad to step down after the tournament, following Juninho Pernambucano and Roberto Carlos. Brazil coach Dunga made the announcement during an interview on Brazilian television station Rede Globo, saying, "Dida told me that the Seleção is no longer a priority in his career." Despite his World Cup heroics, he had not been called up for national team play since the July inception of Dunga, who had eschewed many of the veterans in favor of a predominantly younger roster for Brazil's post-WC friendlies. Dunga elected PSV's Gomes as his number one during a late-summer stretch against Norway, Argentina, and Wales, while FC Porto stopper Helton started in a 4-0 defeat of Kuwait club, Al-Kuwait on October 7, 2006.
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