Brazil is not only the nation of dribblers and football wizards. It is also, and perhaps above all, the country that invented the modern art of the set piece. From the folha seca ("dry leaf") to the knuckleball strike, it was Brazilians who laid the technical foundations used today by all the great free-kick takers on the planet, from Cristiano Ronaldo to Lionel Messi, and Andrea Pirlo.
The question of who is the best Brazilian free-kick taker constantly comes up among football enthusiasts, because no other national team has produced as many specialists in the genre. Here is our ranking of the 10 greatest Brazilian free-kick takers of all time.
10. Didi — the inventor of the folha seca
Waldyr Pereira, better known as Didi, was born in 1928. He was voted the best player of the 1958 World Cup and is a two-time world champion (1958, 1962). Didi is quite simply the inventor of the folha seca, a shot that rises above the wall before suddenly dipping, like a dead leaf falling from a tree. A right leg infection in his youth forced him to rebuild his shot with less power, more touch, a short run-up, and a two-toe contact with the ball.
The entire grammar of the modern free-kick comes from him. Pelé himself considered him his idol. Of his 20 goals for Brazil, 12 of them were scored from free-kicks.
9. Branco — the master of the left-footed rocket
Cláudio Ibrahim Vaz Leal, known as Branco, is a Brazilian left-back, world champion in 1994. Having played for Fluminense, FC Porto, Genoa, and Middlesbrough, he was considered in Brazil as Roberto Carlos's direct predecessor in the same position. His masterpiece remains his 35-meter missile into the top corner past Ed de Goey in the 1994 World Cup quarter-final against the Netherlands (3-2), a goal that virtually secured the world title for Brazil.
For the sheer beauty of it, let's rewatch this historic gem:
8. Neymar — the free-kick taker of his generation
Back at Santos after his stint at Al-Hilal, Neymar Jr. is considered one of the most creative and unpredictable free-kick takers of the 2010s-2020s. Trained at Santos, elevated to the pantheon of world football at Barcelona alongside Messi and Suárez, record holder for the most expensive transfer in history (€222M to PSG in 2017), Neymar is also the top scorer in Seleção history with 79 goals in 128 caps, surpassing Pelé in 2023. His free-kick technique oscillates between Beckham-esque curled shots and Juninho-style knuckleballs. He openly acknowledges this dual inspiration.
Neymar has scored 22 free-kick goals in his career.
7. Rivelino — the Patada Atómica
World champion in 1970 with what is widely considered the greatest Brazilian team of all time, Roberto Rivelino was the very definition of the virtuoso left-footer. A star for Corinthians and then Fluminense, he invented the flip-flap, later copied by Ronaldinho, Ronaldo Nazário, and Zlatan Ibrahimović. But he made his mark especially for the violence of his shot. Pelé included him in his FIFA 100 list of the greatest living players in 2004.
Mexican fans, who were discovering Brazilian football during the 1970 World Cup, nicknamed him Patada Atómica (the Atomic Kick) after his missile against Czechoslovakia in the group stage. Up to seven players in the wall, no need to curl it over, Rivelino relied on his power...
6. Pelé — O Rei, also on free-kicks
Often cited among the three greatest players in history, three-time world champion (1958, 1962, 1970), Pelé is not the first name that comes to mind when thinking of the best Brazilian free-kick taker. And yet! Of the 1,283 goals he claimed in his career (a figure itself disputed), a significant portion came from set pieces. Pelé's free-kick strike was varied: curled right-footed à la Didi, or a pure strike.
He is said to have scored 70 direct free-kick goals. It should be noted, however, that this total includes many friendly matches and exhibitions, which leads some independent statisticians to significantly revise the figure downwards (44 goals in official competition according to most analyses).
5. Roberto Carlos — the mule kick
One of the best left-backs in history, winner of the 2002 World Cup and three-time Champions League winner with Real Madrid, Roberto Carlos redefined what a defender could do with the ball at his feet. Nicknamed "the cannon man," he regularly struck the ball at over 169 km/h. His magical free-kick against France in the 1997 Tournoi de France, since studied by physicists (Magnus effect), remains one of the most iconic goals in football history. The ball started towards the corner flag before swerving back into the top corner past goalkeeper Fabien Barthez. An action that one would have thought possible only in a football manga or a movie...
Roberto Carlos scored 49 free-kick goals, including 24 with Brazil
4. Marcelinho Carioca — Pé de Anjo
Unbeknownst outside Brazil because he never really made it big in Europe (a short spell at Valencia in 1997), Marcelo Pereira Surcin, aka Marcelinho Carioca, is nevertheless statistically the most prolific free-kick taker in football history, ahead of Juninho according to recent recalculations. Absolute idol of Corinthians (8 titles including two Brazilian championships in 1998-1999 and the first FIFA Club World Cup in 2000), he owed his nickname Pé de Anjo (Angel's Foot) to his surgical precision and small shoe size.
Willian (Chelsea, Arsenal) cites him as his childhood idol, and Juninho explicitly mentioned him as his first inspiration for the knuckleball. His career was tarnished by off-field conflicts (notably with Wanderley Luxemburgo). 78 free-kick goals are attributed to Marcelinho Carioca, 59 of which were scored for Corinthians alone.
3. Rogério Ceni — the goalkeeper-scorer world record holder
Probably the craziest anomaly in football history. Rogério Mücke Ceni is a goalkeeper, and he scored 132 career goals, an overwhelming majority of which were from the center circle... or from free-kicks. An absolute legend of São Paulo (1,238 matches over 22 years, an absolute record for a single club), captain and Club World Cup champion in 2005, he had an obsessive training protocol: it is said that he took up to 80 free-kicks a day in training. The Guinness World Record for the most prolific goalkeeper is officially in his name. No other goalkeeper in history comes close to his numbers.
Rogério Ceni thus scored 61 goals from free-kicks. A statistic that will forever remain... insane for a goalkeeper.
2. Zico — O Galinho
Nicknamed "the white Pelé," Arthur Antunes Coimbra alias Zico is the absolute idol of Flamengo (508 goals in 731 matches, top scorer in the club's history), winner of the Copa Libertadores 1981 and the Intercontinental Cup the same year against Liverpool. Considered by many to be the greatest player in history never to have won a World Cup (along with Cruyff, Maradona, and Puskás), Zico was capable of making the ball spin in all directions. He consistently stayed after training to work on his free-kicks, a habit he passed on to an entire generation of Brazilian players.
Marcelinho Carioca recounts that Zico personally came to watch him train with the Flamengo youth teams. He is credited with a total of 62 goals from free-kicks in official competitions.
1. Juninho — the absolute GOAT of the free-kick
No one, no one, has ever struck a set piece like Antônio Augusto Ribeiro Reis Júnior, aka Pernambucano Juninho. Seven times French champion with Olympique Lyonnais ( an absolute record in France), winner of the Copa Libertadores 1998 with Vasco da Gama and the 2005 Confederations Cup with Brazil, Juninho perfected the knuckleball technique: a ball struck flat-footed, without rotation, that floats unpredictably before dipping.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Andrea Pirlo, Didier Drogba, Gareth Bale have all publicly acknowledged copying him. Thierry Henry called Juninho "the best free-kick taker in history, by far, by far". We particularly remember his majestic strike from midfield against Ajaccio:
An investigation by L'Équipe in December 2006 revealed that 45% of OL's goals (then one of the top three attacks in Europe at the time) came directly or indirectly from a Juninho free-kick. Another telling statistic is that the club never lost a Ligue 1 match where Juninho scored a free-kick.
In total, Juninho scored 77 free-kick goals, including 44 with Olympique Lyonnais.