Juninho Pernambucano

Didi, who won the World Cup with Brazil in 1958 and 1962, was doing it back then, too.

Everyone since has just been tweaking the formula.” It was when he got to France that Juninho says he mastered it.

Antônio Augusto Ribeiro Reis Júnior (born 30 January 1975), commonly known as Juninho Pernambucano or simply Juninho, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who was most recently the sporting director of French club Lyon.

A dead-ball specialist noted for his bending free kicks, in particular the knuckleball technique which he developed, Juninho holds the record for the highest number of goals scored through free kicks and is considered by many to be the greatest free-kick taker of all time.

Juninho began his professional career in 1993 with Brazilian club Sport do Recife.

Two years later he joined Vasco da Gama where he played over 100 matches and won six titles.

Juninho Pernambucano joined Vasco da Gama in 1995.

Juninho played 295 games for Vasco from 1995 to 2001.

He won several trophies during his first stint with the club, including the Brazilian Championship in 1997 and 2000, the Copa Libertadores in 1998, the Copa Mercosur in 2000, as well as the 2000 Brazilian Silver Ball award as one of the best Brazilian midfielders of the season.

At that time, he was playing with Romário, Edmundo, and Juninho Paulista, and he became a favourite of the Vasco fans.

Since that time he has been known as Reizinho de São Januário (The Little King of São Januário), a reference to Vasco da Gama's stadium, as well as Reizinho da Colina (The Little King of the Hill).

Juninho has been cited in a classic chorus sung by the fans remembering his free-kick goal against River Plate at River Plate Stadium, during the 1998 Libertadores which helped the club reach the finals against Barcelona de Guayaquil, which they won.

Having made his international debut in 1999, Juninho played 40 games for the Brazil national team and scored six goals.

In 2001, he joined Division 1 side Lyon where he played for the next eight years, winning seven consecutive league titles and scoring 100 goals in 343 official appearances for the club.

He represented Brazil at the 2001 Copa América and was part of the squad which won the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup before retiring from international football after the 2006 World Cup.

In 2001, the player won a preliminary injunction against Vasco da Gama, after which he became a free agent.

Although he left Vasco for Lyon after a judicial fight, he is still considered a favourite of Vasco fans.

In 2001, Juninho moved abroad to play for French club Lyon.

Before his arrival at Lyon, the club had never won the French championship.

Starting out in his first season at the club, Lyon won seven league titles in a row.

At Lyon, Juninho made himself especially noted for his accurate, powerful and varied set pieces.

As well as often being ranked the world's greatest free kick exponent, Juninho was a noted passer, providing many assists, and his leadership abilities prompted Lyon manager Gérard Houllier to name him team captain.

Juninho Pernambucano scored 100 goals while at Lyon.

Forty-four of those goals were scored from free-kicks, the last of which was a strike from long distance against Olympique de Marseille.

Juninho was also a prolific goalscorer in the Champions League, and he matched Sonny Anderson as the club's top goalscorer in European competitions with 16 goals, on a match against Steaua Bucharest in November 2008.

He later became Lyon's top goalscorer in the Champions League with 18 goals, while reaching three quarter-finals in the competition.

Following his departure from Lyon in 2009, Juninho played in Qatar with Al-Gharafa and in the United States with New York Red Bulls.

On 26 May 2009, Lyon chairman Jean-Michel Aulas announced in a press conference that the club had accepted Juninho's request to leave Lyon at the end of the season as a free agent, despite the fact that the player still had a year left in his contract.

During the press conference, Juninho sat next to Aulas and left without saying a word.

On 17 June 2009, Juninho signed a €2.5 million, two-year contract with Qatari club Al-Gharafa.

In his first season with the club, Juninho captained the team to their seventh league title and wins in the Qatari Stars Cup and Qatar Crown Prince Cup, completing the treble.

He finished the season with Player of the Year honours from the Qatar Football Association.

Juninho played 66 games for Al-Gharafa and scored 25 goals.

He scored his 100th goal on his last game for Lyon, through a penalty kick against Caen.

The latter stint was wedged between two spells back at Vasco, where he ultimately retired in 2013.

From 2013 to 2018, Juninho was a football commentator for Brazilian sports network Rede Globo.

Born in Recife, Juninho started his professional career at Sport Recife and quickly established himself as a rising star in Brazilian football.

He won two regional titles with the club.

According to Juninho, it was as a 13-year-old that he started to take free-kicks and began to develop his knuckleball technique, telling FourFourTwo magazine: “I started by copying free-kicks taken by Marcelinho, who played for Corinthians.

He was one of my inspirations, and the first player I had ever seen hit the ball head on and make it dance in the air.