Story · a node in the Football Graph
The boy who changed football
A teenager from Minas Gerais walked into Santos and rewrote the game.
In 1956 a fifteen-year-old from Três Corações signed for Santos. Within a year he was the best player in Brazil; within two, the best in the world. Nobody had seen anything like him, and football would never look the same.
Why it happened
A once-in-a-century talent arrived fully formed at a club ready to build a dynasty around him.
What came before
A slight boy shining shoes and playing with a sock stuffed with rags in Bauru.
What came after
Two decades of Santos dominance and three World Cups for Brazil.
Where it echoed
Santos FC · Brazil · the global game itself.
The connections
Everyone and everything inside this story
People
Clubs
National teams
Cities
Continue exploring · connected by the graph
One more
A Story is a canonical entity in the Football Graph — reusable on every player, match and competition it touches.