en Amaral (footballer, born 1954)

Amaral
Personal information
Full name	João Justino Amaral dos Santos
Date of birth	25 December 1954
Place of birth	Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
Date of death	31 May 2024 (aged 69)
Place of death	São Paulo, Brazil
Position(s)	Defender
Senior career*
Years	Team
1971–1978	Guarani
1979–1981	Corinthians
1981–1982	Santos
1982–1984	América (MEX)
1984–1986	Leones Negros UdG
1987	Blumenau
International career
1975–1980	Brazil
Medal record
Men's association football
Representing Brazil
FIFA World Cup
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

João Justino Amaral dos Santos (25 December 1954 – 31 May 2024), best known as Amaral or Amaral II, was a Brazilian professional footballer who played as a defender.^[1]

Career

At club level he played for Guarani (1971–1978), Corinthians (1978–1981), Santos (1981–1982), in Mexico with Leones Negros de la Universidad de Guadalajara (1981–1985),^[2] and closed his career in 1987 with Blumenau.

Amaral won one Campeonato Paulista (1979) with Corinthians and one Mexican First Division (1983–84) with Club América.

At international level, he was capped 41 times by the Brazil national team, from August 1975 to June 1980, and with them he won the Bicentennial Tournament in 1976 and participated in seven games at the 1978 FIFA World Cup, where the team finished third.^[3]

Death

On 31 May 2024, Amaral died from cancer in São Paulo, at the age of 69.^[4]

Honours

Corinthans

Campeonato Paulista: 1979

América

Liga MX: 1983–84

Brazil

References

^ "Amaral". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
^ Amaral – Liga MX stats at MedioTiempo.com (archived) (in Spanish)
^ Amaral – FIFA competition record (archived)
^ "LUTO: Morre Amaral, um dos maiores zagueiros do futebol brasileiro". Futebol Interior (in Portuguese). 31 May 2024.