Rio de Janeiro (AFP) – Mario Zagallo, who was part of four World Cup winning teams as a player or coach for Brazil, has been hospitalized in Rio de Janeiro, officials there said Monday.
“The management of the Hospital Barra D’Or informs that Mario Jorge Lobo Zagallo is a patient, receiving medical assistance,” the hospital’s press service said in a statement.
There were no more details about how long Zagallo had been in hospital or what he was being treated for.
Zagallo, 84, is a football legend in Brazil and just last Thursday took part in the Olympic torch relay on the eve of the opening of the Rio Games.
Although wheelchair-bound, he took the torch from fellow former national team trainer Carlos Alberto Parreira.
Zagallo played on Brazil’s World Cup championship teams of 1958 and 1968, and he was team trainer in the 1970 win, as well as an assistant manager in 1994.
