The photograph shows a man in his seventies, a football at his feet, standing on a dirt pitch in a Rio de Janeiro favela. He is smiling, surrounded by children who know him not as a World Cup legend but as the man who turns up every week with a bag of balls and an hour of his time. The man is Jairzinho, the Brazilian winger who scored in every round of the 1970 World Cup, and the image is photographer Michael Donald's best work.
Donald, a British documentary photographer who has spent two decades documenting football culture in Brazil, said the shot came about almost by accident. He had been working on a project about grassroots football in the favelas when a local organiser mentioned that "o furacão" — the hurricane — would be visiting that afternoon. Donald expected a brief appearance. Instead, Jairzinho stayed for three hours, coaching, telling stories, and posing for selfies with anyone who asked.
The image works, Donald said, because it captures the gap between the legend and the man. Jairzinho won the World Cup alongside Pelé, Tostão and Rivelino in what is widely considered the greatest team ever assembled. He scored seven goals in that tournament, a Brazilian record that stood until Ronaldo surpassed it in 2002. But in the photograph, none of that history is visible. What is visible is a man who chose to spend his retirement on the same kind of pitch where he started.
Donald's photograph has been acquired by the National Portrait Gallery for its collection of sporting portraits. Jairzinho, now 81, continues his community work in Rio.
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