Nílton dos Santos

Nílton dos Santos was born on May 16, 1925. He was a Brazilian football player that was on the defender position. Because of all the knowledge of the sport he had, Nílton was called The Encyclopedia; it was said that he had all the knowledge one could have about football. Nílton Santos played for only 2 teams in his professional career; Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas and the Brazilian national team; he is regarded as one of the best left wingbacks in the history of the game. As a defender on the left side, he was one of the first in the world to give support to the attack. Pele named him in his "top 125 greatest living footballers" in March 2004.

Nílton was a key player in defense during the 1954, 1958 and 1962 World Cup finals (he was also in the Brazilian squad for the 1950 finals, but made no appearances). In 1950, Brazilian coach Flávio Costa decided to use defenders that went up front no matter what position they were. He played left side on the following cups and became famous for scoring a magnificent goal in the 1958 tournament when Brazil played Austria. Nílton dribbled his way through the whole field, driving his coach Vicente Feola crazy and finished with a superb shot.