Neco

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This article is about the football player and manager. For the Egyptian pharoahs, see Necho.

Personal information
Neco

Full name	Manoel Nunes
Date of birth	March 5, 1895
Place of birth	São Paulo, SP, Brazil
Date of death	May 31, 1977
Place of death	São Paulo, SP, Brazil
Nickname	Neco
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Deceased
Youth clubs
1911-1913	Corinthians
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1913-1930 1915	Corinthians A.A. Mackenzie College	313 (239)
National team
1917-1922	Brazil	15 (8)
Teams managed
1920 1927 1937-1938	Corinthians Corinthians Corinthians
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Manoel Nunes (known as Neco), born March 5, 1895 in São Paulo, SP) was a Brazilian football midfielder. With great skill and tenacity, he was the first idol of Corinthians, being the first player to get a statue in the team's gardens (in 1929).

As of 2006, Neco is the player who played the longest for Corinthians: 17 years – he started in the third team of Corinthians at the age of 16 and joined the first team in 1913 (the first year Corinthians participated in official competitions).

Neco had a quick temper and frequently got involved in fights; his second stint as a manager occurred because he was suspended as a player for 18 games when he beat a referee.

Called often to the Brazilian National Team, he won two South American Championships: 1919 (team's top scorer) and 1922 (top scorer).

Playing for Corinthians, he won eight times the Paulista League as a player (being top scorer in 1914 and 1920) and once as a coach (1937).

[edit] Trivia

In 1915, Corinthians did not play official games because of political issues and almost went bankrupt; this year, Neco played friendlies for Corinthians and the official games for Mackenzie.

During this time, he invaded the Corinthians building to retrieve books that the landlord had locked inside the building, due to non-payment of the rent.

After scoring two goals playing for Brazil against Uruguay in the 2x2 tie valid for the 1919 South American Championship in Rio de Janeiro, Neco returned to his regular job as a carpenter in São Paulo and was fired for missing work..