A recent Twitter exchange with translators Rahul Bery and Victor Meadowcroft inspired me to revisit the remarkable story behind the song Fio Maravilha by Brazilian musician Jorge Ben Jor. I first encountered the song about six years ago and became fascinated by it. During my research it came to my attention that there were no English-language sources telling this unique tale in footballing and musical history, everything was in Portuguese. So I resolved to change that. Please enjoy below the story of Fio Maravilha, a version of which first appeared on a now-defunct football blogsite in 2013.
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The scene is the Maracanã stadium, Brazil, 15 January 1972. Benfica are in town for the Rio de Janeiro International Summer Tournament. Flamengo are their opponents in front of a crowd of 44,280 spectators.
With the match still tight and goalless in the second half, the Flamengo fans begin to chant en masse for the introduction of the popular Fio. Coach Mário Zagallo cedes to their demands and throws him on in place of Arilson.
In the 33rd minute of the second half, Fio takes control of the ball and beats both centre backs before rounding the keeper and netting the winner.
A great goal. A nice story. But it doesn’t end there.
Sadly there is no TV footage of the game, but it just so happened that noted Brazilian musician Jorge Ben Jor (known then simply as Jorge Ben) was in the crowd that day and was inspired to immortalise Fio’s wondergoal in song.
The singer’s hit single Fio Maravilha, released in 1972, describes the ‘heavenly’ goal in detail and claims that Fio only refrained from dribbling the ball all the way into the net because of his humility.
Following the release of the song, Fio – real name João Batista de Sales – came to be known as Fio Maravilha.
Fio, a hardworking and cheerful character, was already something of a cult hero prior to scoring that goal, but with Jorge Ben Jor still playing the song decades later, long after Fio Maravilha had hung up his boots to become a pizza delivery man, his place in football folklore is undisputed.
João Batista was brought to Flamengo in 1960 as a 15-year-old by his brother Germano, a midfielder who also represented AC Milan and Palmeiras. His nickname Fio came about due to the shouts of encouragement from his mother for her filho (son) during training sessions.
He eventually became a feature of the first team at Flamengo in 1969 but was not considered the most talented of players; indeed, the three words a Brazilian paper chose to describe him in 1970 were ‘ugly, toothy and gangly’. Despite being renowned as a brave and opportunistic forward, he soon garnered a reputation for squandering easy chances. Nevertheless, his charisma, dedication and work rate won over the fans.
Fio Maravilha left Flamengo the year after scoring the goal that wrote his name in sporting and musical history, having played 281 games and scored 77 goals. He went on to turn out for various other Brazilian clubs before heading to the USA in the 1980s, where he played for New York Eagles, Monte Belo Panthers and San Francisco Mercury.
He was disappointed with the quality of football in the US and the lack of enthusiasm for it, despite assurances to the contrary prior to his move, but he enjoyed life in San Francisco and remained there delivering pizzas when he retired. Still in the city, he now coaches youth soccer.
Fio Maravilha looks fondly upon Jorge Ben Jor’s song nowadays but there was a time when it caused some apparent friction. Fio’s legal advisers challenged Jorge Ben Jor’s right to use his name and, although the latter won in court, he nonetheless changed the name of the song to Filho Maravilha in 1975. Some 22 years later Fio, in an interview for a Brazilian TV programme, encouraged the singer to return to the original lyrics and name, and Jorge Ben Jor seemed happy to do so. Fio has distanced himself from the legal proceedings, claiming it was a misunderstanding and that the issue was on the part of his lawyers. He has stated that he never had any problem with the singer, and, via TV, both men have exchanged compliments.
Smiles all round then, the dispute is in the past, and all that remains are memories and music.
So that’s the story of Fio Maravilha, the ultimate cult hero?