Cláudio Christovam de Pinho

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Cláudio
Personal information
Full name	Cláudio Christóvam de Pinho
Date of birth	July 18, 1922(1922-07-18)
Place of birth	Santos, Brazil
Date of death	May 1, 2000 (aged 77)
Playing position	Attacking Midfielder
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
19??–19?? 195?–1957 1958–1960	Palmeiras Corinthians São Paulo FC	32 (9) 549 (305) 35 (10)
National team2
19??–19??	Brazil	? (?)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17:01, 19 March 2007 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 17:01, 19 March 2007 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Cláudio is the biggest scorer of all time for Corinthians. He's scored 306 gols in 554 games for the team, where he was nicknamed “Manager”. He was also known for being a skillful player, who placed the ball anywhere he wanted.

[edit] Biography

Born in Santos (SP), Cláudio began his career with his hometown's most famous club's youth squad; after a few games, he changed sides and had a brief stint with Palmeiras.

For some veteran Corinthians supporters, Marcelinho Carioca, another famous Corinthians player, has much of the Cláudio style, who also played with the number 7; he, just as Marcelinho, was an excellent free kicker and made perfect crossings.

The “Manager”, along with Baltazar, Luizinho, Mário, Carbone, Simão, Rafael, Robert and many other great players, helped Corinthians to win important championships, among them the São Paulo State Championship of 1951, 1952 and 1954 and the Rio-São Paulo Tournament of 1950, 1953 and 1954.

But it was not just with the Corinthians shirt that Cláudio achieved glory. He was also part of the national team which won the South American Cup in 1949, and won the São Paulo state championship in 1942 with Corinthians' bitter rivals Palmeiras.