Roberto Dinamite, a former member of the Brazilian national team and the league’s all-time leading scorer, passed away on Sunday at the age of 68 from intestinal cancer, his former club Vasco da Gama said.
“Vasco da Gama was extremely saddened to discover that the greatest of all had passed away on Sunday. Dinamite, also known as Carlos Roberto de Oliveira, spent 29 of his 68 years as a player and president of the club. Enjoy your serenity, “a club in Rio de Janeiro tweeted. Dinamite, who was raised in the underprivileged Rio district of Duque de Caxias, joined Vasco da Gama’s junior team and went on to score 708 goals in 1,110 games for the club between 1971 and 1979.
He still owns the national championship record for goals scored with 190, significantly surpassing former Fluminense player Fred’s 158. He was known as “The Insatiable Goal Scorer” after scoring his first goal for Vasco’s senior team in the Maracana stadium at the age of 17. The following day, “the kid-dynamite exploded” was the headline in the newspaper Jornal dos Sports.
Dinamite, a fierce adversary of Flamengo star Zico, won the national championship in 1974 and the Rio de Janeiro crown five times between 1977 and 1992. He participated in the 1978 and 1982 World Cups while playing for the national team, scoring 20 goals in 38 games. He was signed by Barcelona in 1979, but he didn’t measure up in Europe and went back to Vasco the following year.
After leaving her position as Vasco’s president, Dinamite pursued a career in politics, serving five terms as the state of Rio’s deputy. He paid homage to his “forever idol,” the legendary Brazilian footballer Pele, who passed away from cancer on December 29 in a tweet.
