Sylvio Pirillo


Sylvio Pirillo was a Brazilian football striker.
Pirillo's first professional club was Sport Club Americano. His good performances granted him moves to Internacional and then Peñarol. In 1941 he transferred to Flamengo with the hard task to replace Leonidas da Silva—who had been 1940 Rio State Championship's top scorer with 30 goals.
Pirillo became an idol when by the end of 1941 Rio State Championship he had been its top scorer with 39 goals—an unbeaten record until today. He was also a very important player at 1942-1943-1944 Rio State Championships titles. Pirillo is the 4th high scorer in Flamengo's history with 204 goals.
In 1948 he signed with Botafogo and once again he had a difficult assignment: to replace Heleno de Freitas. In the same year he won the Rio State Championship with Botafogo, becoming an idol in another major club.
After retiring as a player, Pirillo began a successful career as a coach. As Brazil's coach, he was the first one to draft Pelé in 1957, for the Roca Cup, a match against Argentina, at Maracanã Stadium.

Honours