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De Freitas scored 19 goals in 18 appearances for Brazil (a rare goal average over 1) as the team finished runners-up in both the 1945 and 1946 Copa America championships.
De Freitas scored 19 goals in 18 appearances for Brazil (a rare goal average over 1) as the team finished runners-up in both the 1945 and 1946 Copa America championships.
The striker spent most of his career with Botafogo, scoring 209 goals for the club, most with his head In 1948 he transferred to Boca Juniors in Argentina, but returned to Brazil the following year, winning the 1949 Campeonato Carioca with Vasco. He ended his career with América in Rio, he played only one match for the club and it was the first and last game in the Maracanã.
He died from complications related to late-stage, untreated syphilis in 1959 in a sanatorium in Barbacena.
He was joint top goalscorer in the 1945 tournament. Heleno de Freitas was biographed by Marcos Eduardo Neves in the book Nunca houve um homem como Heleno (meaning "There was never a man like Heleno" in Portuguese).
The title of this book is a reference to his mocking nickname Gilda. He was nicknamed after Rita Hayworth"s iconic character in the eponymous film due to his good looks and hot temper.
In Colombia a Colombian writer and sports reporter Andrés Salcedo wrote a Book namely "El día en que el Fútbol Murió: Triunfo y tragedia de un dios"(Meaning: "The day when soccer died: Triumph and tragedy of a god") including Heleno de Freitas as the main character.
In 2012, Brazilian filmmaker José Henrique Fonseca released a film based on the life of Heleno de Freitas. The film was titled Heleno and stars Rodrigo Santoro as Heleno de Freitas.
