 Oldair in 1971 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Oldair Barchi | ||
| Date of birth | (1939-07-01)1 July 1939 | ||
| Place of birth | Araraquara,São Paulo, Brazil | ||
| Date of death | 31 October 2014(2014-10-31) (aged 75) | ||
| Place of death | Belo Horizonte,Minas Gerais, Brazil | ||
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder Left-back | ||
| Youth career | |||
| –1960 | Palmeiras | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1958–1960 | Palmeiras | ||
| 1960–1965 | Fluminense | ||
| 1965–1967 | Vasco da Gama | 138 | (15) |
| 1968–1973 | Atlético Mineiro | 281 | (62) |
| 1973 | CEUB | ||
| 1974–1977 | ESAB [pt] | ||
| International career | |||
| 1966–1968 | Brazil | 3 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Oldair Barchi (1 July 1939 – 31 October 2014) was a Brazilian footballer. Nicknamed "Capitão", he played as amidfielder and aleft-back forPalmeiras,Vasco da Gama andAtlético Mineiro throughout the 1960s and the early 1970s. He also played forBrazil on three occasions throughout the 1960s.
He began his career withPalmeiras following a series of tryouts when he was 16 where he would be a part of the winning squad for the1959 Campeonato Paulista despite being only a reserve without many opportunities to play.[1] Around this time, he originally played asmidfielder, sometimes playing as aleft-back. Despite winning theTorneio Rio–São Paulo in 1960, he never found a time to shine in the spotlight and was considering playing for another club within the São Paulo area. He would then be transferred to play forFluminense based inRio de Janeiro following invitation of club managerZezé Moreira as well as a salary of 600 thousand cruzeiros. Throughout his five years with the club, he would alternate withEdmílson andÍris as a midfielder until firmly establishing himself within the starting XI. His career with the club would end during the middle of the1965 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A due to contractual disagreements as the management at Fluminense wouldn't accept to Oldair's new demanding salary price of 60 million cruzeiros.[2]
The same club manager, Zezé Moreira, would later convince Oldair to play forVasco da Gama for the remainder of the season for only 40 million. He wouldman-markGarrincha in the final of the inauguralTaça Guanabara in 1965 and scored the first goal in Vasco's 2–0 victory againstBotafogo with an audience of 115 thousand fans atMaracanã with the club receiving their first title in the tournament.[3] This would result in the club's qualification for the1965 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, where Vasco would be runner-up in the tournament, also winning the 1966 Torneio Rio–São Paulo.[2] By the time of the end of his tenure with the club, he would play in 138 matches with 15 goals.[4]
In 1968, in an exchange involving midfielderBuglê, Oldair would be transferred to play forAtlético Mineiro. However, he would face difficulties during the late 1960s as he would enter into disagreements with the new club managerYustrich as he would soon be benched and removed from the starting XI. Despite this, Oldair continued to train, believing that he would soon enough have his old position restored. This would come in the1970 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A as he was selected to becomecaptain by new managerTelê Santana, winning that year'sCampeonato Mineiro. This success would continue into the1971 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A with the club earning their first national title. He would also score the historic winning goal by 1-0 through afree kick againstSão Paulo in the final phase of the tournament, ensuring that the "rooster" played for a draw in the final match against Botafogo at Maracanã.[2][5][6]
Following two more seasons with the club, he would make 282 appearances and would score 61 goals.[5] Oldair would then play forCEUB in 1973 before returning to Minas Gerais to play forESAB [pt] until his retirement in 1977.[2]
Oldair would play forBrazil on three occasions with his debut being in afriendly againstRio Grande do Sul [pt] on 1 May 1965 that ended in a 2–0 victory. He would then play in a friendly againstPeru on 8 June 1965 which would end 3–1.[7][8] He would also be in the 47-man provisional Brazilian roster for the1966 FIFA World Cup but would ultimately not make the final roster.[3] His final international match would be on 11 August 1968 in a 3–2 victory againstArgentina.[9] Conversely, he would play in a 1–2 against Brazil whilst representing Atlético Mineiro on 3 September 1969.[10]
Following his retirement, he would then pursue the sales of construction materials as he and his wife Vanda worked in business, later working within private clothing companies. He would later have a granddaughter, Larissa. He died from lung cancer on 31 October 2014 following hospitalization at the Hospital Luxemburgo following a smoking additction he had developed.[2][5][11]