When your nickname is Animal it’s a pretty safe bet that you have something of a wild-man reputation; but even by most maverick’s standards, Edmundo takes the biscuit thanks to his on pitch altercations, off-field antics and the fact that he got a pet chimpanzee drunk at a kids’ party.
Born on April 2, 1971 in Niterói, Edmundo Alves de Souza Neto began his colourful career with Vasco da Gama, one of five different spells he would enjoy at the club but after a pretty uneventful first season with the club he joined Palmeiras where, it’s fair to say, this modern day hell-raiser really made a name for himself.
To say his time at Palmeiras was eventful would be something of an understatement as, during that initial period with the club, he would win the Campeonato Paulista, the Torneio Rio-Sao Paulo and Campeonato Brasileiro, as well being capped for Brazil; not to mention being sent off five times in his first season at the club.
However, his actions would ultimately cost him a place at the 1994 World Cup in the USA when he thrust his hand into the face of a referee after one of his many red cards; even so, lessons wouldn’t be learned and a catalogue of misdemeanours would soon follow.
He received a lengthy ban in 1995 and was investigated by the police after he sparked a huge brawl in a game versus São Paulo and if that wasn’t enough he was placed under house arrest in Ecuador when he smashed a TV camera after he’d a missed penalty.
But things would get even worse for Edmundo in December of 1995 when he was involved in a car accident that would result in the tragic death of three people. After being found guilty of drink driving and manslaughter he received an incredibly lenient sentence which allowed him to serve his time at night while still playing football during the day; only spending a few days in jail at any one time.
Ultimately, his behaviour had a huge impact on his playing career and Edmundo soon found himself moving on again, this time to Corinthians and then back to Vasco once more before engineering a huge 13 billion lire move to Serie A with Fiorentina. But despite the turmoil at club level he also managed to regain his place in the Brazilian team that won the 1997 Copa America, as well as being selected for the 1998 World Cup squad.
A change of scene maybe but it was the same old “O Animal” in Italy when it came to his erratic behaviour. On the field he would score 12 goals in 37 games for ‘The Viola’ as he struck up a fruitful partnership with Gabriel Batistuta; but not for the first time it would be his antics off the field which would make all the headlines.
On arriving in Florence he insisted that a clause in his contract be added that would allow him to return to Rio for Carnival and would often disappear back to Brazil at the drop of a hat anyway whether he had permission or not. A furious Batistuta later fumed: “He was the right man if anyone wanted to have fun, but to win something was not right. He left his team without having any physical problem, but only to go to party.”
After a relatively successful period at Fiorentina, who romped to the top of the league in the New Year, he fell out with the club’s management after leaving the club high and dry following another mid-season trip to Rio and eventually made his move to Brazil permanent when he rejoined Vasco for the third time later that year.
Once more controversy followed the striker across the Atlantic after he hired a circus to celebrate his son’s first birthday in his back garden and was famously snapped plying a chimp called Pedrinho with beer and whisky, which not surprisingly caused outrage around the world; though the party’s genial host felt he had done nothing wrong.
For Brazil Edmundo was capped 39 times and scored ten goals, a pretty decent record, but once again he would be remembered for his unprofessional behaviour at the World Cup in 1998 which saw him moan consistently throughout the tournament and then trash the changing room when he was dropped for the final at the last minute for a clearly unfit Ronaldo.
His behaviour at the World Cup would ensure his international career was all but finished and his relationship wasn’t helped by a high profile bust-up with former friend and Vasco teammate Romario which became so bad that the pair refused to speak to each other both on or off the pitch.
Edmundo would spend the tail end of his long career as something of a journeyman and even enjoyed brief success with Tokyo Verdy of Japan’s J-League, where he scored 18 goals in 31 appearances, but his time there was fleeting and after just a year at the club he was on the road once more, moving seven times in the next six years.
After brief stints at a number of Brazilian sides he eventually finished his colourful career at his beloved Vasco da Gama in 2008, his fifth and final stint with the club where it had all begun, his twelfth in total after 17 transfers in 18 years.
So much has been written about Edmundo’s bizarre behaviour down the years that it’s easy to overlook what a talented player he actually was. As a strike partner he could make goals as well as score them and found the net 190 times in 402 games while still being regarded as a hero by many Vasco supporters.
And since hanging up his boots for good one of the most recognised faces in Brazil remains in the public eye, not only working as a pundit on national TV but also joining the local police force; yes, that’s right, Edmundo the policeman!
