16 February 1964 - The Celebration Would Have Been Appropriate Here, Too

On 16 February 1964, Bebeto, star of the 1994 World Cup and creator of a famous goal celebration, was born in the Brazilian city of Salvador.

A forward, whose real name is José Roberto Gama de Oliveira, he spent the majority of his career alternating between the Brazilian and Spanish top flights, including lengthy spells with Flamengo (1983-88, 1996), Vasco da Gama (1989-92, 2001-02), and Deportiva la Coruña (1992-96). Along the way, he won league titles in 1983 and 1989, as well as the 1995 Copa del Rey.

He earned his first cap for Brazil in 1985 and made 75 appearances through 1998, scoring a total of 39 goals. During Brazil's winning campaign in the 1994 World Cup, he played every minute and scored three goals. After his third, which put his team up 2-1 against the Netherlands in the quarterfinals (Brazil went on to win 3-2), he honored his newborn son by making a rocking motion with his arms. It eventually became a staple goal celebration.

After his retirement in 2002, he briefly managed America FC in Rio de Janeiro from 2009 to 2010, then switched to politics with his 2010 election to Brazil's legislative assembly.

22 December 2010 - If You Think It Was A Minor Change, You Don't Know Brazilian Football

On 22 December 2010, the Brazilian Football Confederation shook up the Brazilian top flight by officially recognizing the winners of past tournaments as national champions.

Although Brazilian football dates back to the 1890s, a formal national league system did not exist until 1971. Prior to that, teams competed in regional and local leagues, as well as a couple of national tournaments, the Taça Brasil (not to be confused with the Copa do Brasil), played from 1959 to 1968, and the Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa, also known as the Taça de Prata, played from 1967 to 1970.

In 1971, the Taça de Prata became the Campeonato Brasileiro, the current league system, of which Série A is the top flight. Initially, the CFB recognized only the Série A winners as national champions, which meant that, as of 2010, São Paulo's six league titles were the most of any team, followed by Flamengo's five (Flamengo claims a disputed sixth title from 1987, though the CFB does not recognize it).

But in 2010, a handful of clubs, including Palmeiras and Santos, petitioned the CFB to recognize the winners of the earlier competitions as national champions. Not coincidentally, when the confederation announced its decision, both Palmeiras and Santos each had a shared-record eight combined titles, ahead of Sáo Paulo, who were still stuck at six.

The 2012 season recently ended and those three teams remain the top three with an unchanged tally.