Leonidas da Silva made his first-team debut for Sao Cristovao, Brazil in 1929, at the age of 15.

He played in the 1934 and 1938 World Cups, winning the Golden Boot at the latter with eight goals and being crowned Player of the Tournament.

They called him "Rubber Man" for the elasticity and trickery in his legs and "Black Diamond" for the majesty and elegance of his movement.

For the Europeans who saw him in Italy in 1934 and France in 1938, he became an instant legend.  

He is credited with inventing the bicycle kick, a feat so unfamiliar when he performed it at the 1938 World Cup that newspaper accounts talk of women fainting and Parisians injuring themselves the following day trying to emulate it.