Nunes (footballer, born 1954)

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Nunes, full name João Batista Nunes de Oliveira, was born on May 20, 1954, in Cedro de São João, Sergipe, Brazil. He is a former football striker.

He started in Flamengo’s youth team in 1969, at age 15, but was released in 1974. He began his professional career with Confiança in Sergipe and soon stood out, helping him win the Sergipe State Championship in 1976 and earning a move to Santa Cruz, where he won the Pernambuco State Championship in 1976 and 1978.

Nunes earned his first Brazil cap in 1977 and became a regular until an injury kept him from the 1978 World Cup. After a short spell with Fluminense, he moved to Monterrey in Mexico. In 1980 he returned to Flamengo, where he became part of a historic team.

With Flamengo he won the Brazilian Championship in 1980 and 1982, the Copa Libertadores in 1981, and the Intercontinental Cup in 1981. In 1983 he was loaned to Botafogo for a year. He later played for Náutico (where he won another Pernambuco title in 1985), Santos, Atlético Mineiro, Boavista in Portugal, Flamengo again in 1987, Volta Redonda, Tiburones Acajutla in El Salvador, and finished his career with Santa Cruz in 1993 after winning his fourth Pernambuco title.

Nunes played for Brazil from 1978 to 1980, earning six caps and scoring two goals. He is remembered as one of Flamengo’s key forwards of the early 1980s.