Zézé

Zézé
Personnel
Surname	José Gilson Rodriguez
birthday	December 18, 1942
place of birth	Varginha ,  Brazil
date of death	May 31, 2006
Place of death	Varginha,
position	Storm
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1959-1960	Madureira EC
1960-1964	ES Guarantinguetá
1964	Madueira EC
1964-1965	1. FC Cologne	5 (1)
1965-1967	Associação Portuguesa
1968	EC Santo André
1969	Rio Branco SC
1969	Athletico Paranaense
1970	Bangu AC
1970	EC Flamengo
1 Only league games are given.

Zézé - real name José Gilson Rodriguez (born December 18, 1942 in Varginha , † May 31, 2006 ibid) - was a Brazilian football player . In Germany, Zézé became known through his involvement with 1. FC Köln (1964–1965). In the Bundesliga , the attacker came on five league bets. The Brazilian soccer player came to Cologne in 1964 from Madureira EC and in 1965 he went back to Brazil and joined the Associação Portuguesa de Desportos (Portuguesa) in São Paulo .

Career

Zézé grew up in Vila Barcelona, ​​the most populous district of Varginha. At the age of five, the family moved to Nova Iguaçu in the state of Rio de Janeiro. Here he began playing football in various school and youth teams from school. A great role model was his father Américo Rodriguez, who was a celebrated footballer at Varginha Esporte Clube when he was young. It was not until the age of 17 that José became a member of the Madureira Esporte Clube, but after a year he went to Guaratinguetá Futebol, where he was active until January 1964. The year 1964 turned into a hectic back and forth: briefly back to Madureira (January / February), March / April to São Paulo Futebol Clube, in April / May to Italy to AC Florence and in June / July back to Madureira from July 1964 to land in the Bundesliga with 1. FC Köln.

Together with Raoul Tagliari from Meidericher SV, the striker was the first Brazilian in the Bundesliga . In 1964 , Cologne President Franz Kremer brought him to Germany for 150,000 DM - on the mere recommendation of the players' agent Julius Ukrainczyk and without having observed Zézé once. When the first reports of Cologne's interest were published in the Cologne press, many believed in a secret deal. It has been speculated that FC would sign the famous Pelé . When another Brazilian got off the plane, the disappointment was great. Zézé met his new teammates in the seaside resort of Trouville in Normandy. The FC stayed with players' wives and children for a week at the "summer training camp" in northern France. He joined the team together with Franz Kremer. On July 26, 1964, he wore the FC jersey for the first time in a friendly in Trouville against a Normandy selection. Cologne won the game 10-1 and the newcomer scored the goal to make it 3-0. When the defending champion opened the season 1964/65 on August 22, 1964 with a home game against Hertha BSC, Zézé stormed the left winger in the 2-3 home defeat. After a 2-0 lead for FC Hertha turned the game in the last 20 minutes of the game and the man from Brazil got to know the rustic duel of defender Otto Rehhagel . Later he always described football in Germany as "hard and violent". The colleagues Karl-Heinz Thielen , Hans Schäfer , Christian Müller and Wolfgang Overath completed the attack of the reigning German champions. The other newcomer Johannes Löhr made his debut in the Bundesliga on matchday three. After starting the game, Zézé did not play in a competitive game for a good three and a half months.

The Brazilian had serious integration problems. The food that was difficult to digest for his stomach and problems with learning the German language were just as much a handicap as the unfamiliar way of playing in the Bundesliga. There was also an injury and another problem: Zézé couldn't get used to the climate in Germany, especially the winter weather. Ironically, on December 5, 1964, the 14th matchday, in the away game against 1. FC Nürnberg, he was used for the second time by coach Knöpfle in the Bundesliga. The FC competed without Hans Schäfer, Christian Müller and Karl-Heinz Thielen and the winter had the Franconia under control. His teammate Fritz Pott remembers: “There was ankle-deep snow on the lawn and it was freezing cold. Zézé was trembling all over as soon as he stepped on the pitch, to set him up there was simply insane. ”Just like the rest of the team, Zézé went down without a sound in the 3-0 defeat. Zézé was unquestionably a gifted footballer. “What he could do on the ball was impressive. One had the feeling that the ball was stuck to his feet, ”reported Hannes Löhr. By the end of the season, he played in three other Bundesliga games without proving his qualities. What must be emphasized , however, is his use on March 17, 1965 in the second leg at Anfield Road in front of 48,948 spectators against Liverpool FC in the European Champions' Cup. After a passionate effort, FC fought their way through the attacking line-up of Thielen, Zézé, Löhr, Overath and Heinz Hornig a 0-0 and thus a decider against the English champions.

With the game on March 27, 1965, a 3-0 home win against 1. FC Kaiserslautern, Zézé said goodbye to the Bundesliga. During the friendly match against FC Bayern (2-0) in Munich on May 22, 1965, the player, who had come to Cologne with high hopes, wore the FC dress for the last time. Shortly before, the well-known "FC dentist" Hans Koell had removed eight more diseased teeth. After only one year, Zézé left Cologne and returned to his homeland after a doctor diagnosed him with a snow allergy.

In February 2000, the Brazilian returned to Cologne at the invitation of WDR and 1. FC Köln, where he met old companions such as Karl-Heinz Thielen, Wolfgang Weber and Heinz Hornig. On May 31, 2006, José Gilson Rodriguez died in his hometown of complications from cancer.

successes

1. FC Cologne

• 1965 German vice-champion

literature

• Dirk Innschuld, Frederic Latz: With the billy goat on his chest. All players, all coaches, all officials of 1. FC Köln. Publishing house Die Werkstatt. Göttingen 2013. ISBN 978-3-7307-0047-1 . P. 416/417.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Jügen Bitter: Germany's football. The encyclopedia. FA Herbig. Munich 2008. ISBN 978-3-7766-2558-5 . P. 820
2. ↑ Dirk Innschuld, Frederic Latz: With the billy goat on the chest. P. 417

Web links

• Zézé in the database of kicker.de
• Zézé in the database of transfermarkt.de
• Zézé in the ceroacero.es database
• Twin brothers and snow allergies: 10 things about transfer breakdowns In 11freunde.de , from September 5, 2011