Barbosa

Moacir Barbosa Nascimento was one of the first prominent Black goalkeepers in Brazilian football, playing mainly for Vasco da Gama, where he won several state titles between the 1940s and 1950s. Barbosa became eternally associated with the so-called 'Maracanaco', Brazil's defeat to Uruguay in the 1950 World Cup final, played at Maracanã. The goal conceded by Barbosa in that match profoundly marked his personal life and public image for the rest of his existence. Despite being technically recognized as one of the great goalkeepers of his generation, Barbosa unjustly carried the symbolic weight of the 1950 defeat, becoming a target of prejudice and isolation by the Brazilian press and society of that time, an episode today recognized as one of the greatest cases of racism in Brazilian football.