João Batista de Sales better known as Fio Maravilha, is a former Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

ian football

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 player. In Brazil he played for Flamengo

Clube de Regatas do Flamengo

Clube de Regatas do Flamengo , also known as Flamengo and familiarly as Mengão, is a Brazilian sports club based in the Flamengo bairro, Zona Sul, Rio de Janeiro, best known for its professional football team...

, Paysandu Sport Club

Paysandu Sport Club

Paysandu Sport Club is a Brazilian football club located in Belém, Pará. Paysandu is also known as Papão da Curuzu because it won several titles in the 1940s and Curuzu from the name of the street where Paysandu's stadium sits.Paysandu is a club in Northern Brazil, having won 43 State Leagues, 1...

, CEUB

Centro de Ensino Unificado de Brasília Esporte Clube

Centro de Ensino Unificado de Brasília Esporte Clube, commonly known as CEUB, were a Brazilian football club from Brasília. They won the Campeonato Brasiliense once and competed in the Série A three times.-History:...

, Desportiva

Desportiva Capixaba

Desportiva Ferroviária, usually known simply as Desportiva is a traditional Brazilian football club from Cariacica, Espírito Santo state.-History:...

 and São Cristóvão

São Cristóvão de Futebol e Regatas

São Cristóvão de Futebol e Regatas, or São Cristóvão as they are usually called, is a traditional Brazilian football team from Rio de Janeiro in Rio de Janeiro, founded on February 2, 1943. Their home stadium is the Figueirinha stadium, capacity 8,000. They play in white shirts, white shorts and...

. Later he moved to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, where he played for the New York Eagles

New York Eagles

The New York Eagles were a professional soccer franchise that played in the American Soccer League from 1978 to 1981, with a one-year hiatus in 1980...

, the Monte Belo Panthers and San Francisco Mercury.

He is perhaps most famous for the hit single "Fio Maravilha" that was written about him in 1972 by Jorge Ben

Jorge Ben Jor

Jorge Ben Jor is a Brazilian popular musician. His characteristic style fuses samba, funk, and rock into samba-rock, with lyrics that blend humor and satire with often esoteric subject matter.-Early life and career:...

 (later known as Jorge Ben Jor). The musician attended a friendly game between Flamengo and Benfica

SL Benfica

Sport Lisboa e Benfica , commonly known as simply Benfica or occasionally as Benfica Lisbon, is a Portuguese multi-sports club based in Lisbon. Although they successfully compete in a number of different sports, Benfica is mostly known for its association football team...

 in the Maracanã stadium

Estádio do Maracanã

The Estádio do Maracanã , officially Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho, is an open-air stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Owned by the Rio de Janeiro State Government, it is named after the Maracanã neighbourhood in Rio de Janeiro. It was opened in 1950 to host the FIFA World Cup, and in the final...

. Fio Maravilha was left out of Flamengo's starting lineup by coach Mário Zagallo

Mário Zagallo

Mário Jorge Lobo Zagallo is a Brazilian former football player and manager.-Biography:Mário Jorge Lobo Zagallo was born in Maceió, Alagoas, to a family of Lebanese and Italian heritage....

, but after a chorus of fans demanded that he play, he was brought in as a substitute. After 33 minutes in the second half he scored the goal ("the goal of an angel") that was immortalized in the song:

...driblou o goleiro

Só não entrou com bola e tudo porque teve humildade.

As the result of a legal dispute between Jorge Ben and Fio Maravilha the title of the song was later changed to "Filho maravilha". In 2007, Fio gave the musician permission to use the name Fio in the title.

Fio Maravilha currently lives in San Francisco, where he worked as a pizza deliverer. He now coaches youth soccer.