Ulisses, a left-back who once surpassed Marcelo during their youth academy days at Fluminense, passed away last June at the age of 39, according to Brazilian media outlet Globo Esporte.
Marcelo made his professional debut for Fluminense in 2005, then transferred to Real Madrid the following year. He made history during his 15 seasons with the Spanish club, played in two World Cups, and later returned to Fluminense to win the Copa Libertadores. He is considered one of the best Brazilian players of this century.
However, those who followed the development of the generation of players from the Xerém academy at the time had placed their bets on another left-back. Two years older than Marcelo, Ulisses briefly outshone Marcelo during their formative years. One of his former coaches remarked, "He was incredible." This is the story of a supremely talented player whose career was derailed by drug addiction.
Ulisses passed away last June at 39. He suffered a sudden fatal cardiac event near his home in São Gonçalo, in the Rio de Janeiro metropolitan area. Surveillance footage from a neighbor's street-facing camera showed the former player collapsing and getting up several times before finally being unable to move. He died on the spot.
The death certificate seen by Globo Esporte
indicated that complications from acute pneumonia were the cause of Ulisses's death.
Ulisses's mother, Veronica Dasilva Alves, said, "He would often go out without eating, sometimes not eating for two or three days. He would also get caught in the rain... It was very hard, you know? These things slowly wore him down." In a video interview lasting nearly half an hour, she was reluctant to even mention her son's name.
Veronica stated, "I don't even want to say his name. The pain is eternal."
Although the direct cause of death was not drug-related, his family is convinced that addiction took Ulisses's life. In the years leading up to his death, he had entered various rehabilitation centers and had periods of sobriety, but he was never able to completely quit cocaine.
Ulisses's two sons, Kauan, 20, and Caio, 17, are both trying to pursue careers in professional football.
Born in 1986, Ulisses was part of the same generation of Fluminense players as Arouca, Torró, Diego Souza, and Fernando. He lived his entire life in the Rocha neighborhood, traveling nearly 70 kilometers daily for years between São Gonçalo and Xerém for training. At 14, he joined the Fluminense youth academy.
Anyone who observed Ulisses at the youth academy at that time was almost always impressed by his performance. He was a long-striding left-back with strength and technique far superior to his peers. Marcelo was in the same age group but had limited playing opportunities then.
Former teammate Radamés said, "Marcelo always said privately that Ulisses not continuing opened up opportunities for him. Even Marcelo understood that Ulisses would have been the next star in that position."
At Fluminense, Ulisses was nicknamed "Cica" because of a deep scar below his left eye, which he got from an accident at age five. Former youth team coach Cléber Tornado recalled the day "Cica" decided the U17 final.
Tornado said, "I won a U17 championship with the team, and the final was in Campos. I can say that 50% of the credit goes to him. His performance in that final was so exaggerated that you'd say, 'This isn't normal.'" Tornado worked at Fluminense from 2001 to 2007.
Tornado added that whenever Ulisses got the ball on the wing, he would signal for the forwards to rush into the box because he knew Ulisses would definitely get to the byline. He said, "Only those who worked with him know what I'm talking about."
The problem was that, for Ulisses, talent always coexisted with indiscipline. Radamés said the left-back had a habit of missing training since his youth days, but he was "too good and physically too strong." After being away for a week, he would return and reclaim his starting spot as if nothing had happened.
At the time, teammates were unaware of the specific issues in Ulisses's life. They only knew that Ulisses came from a very poor background.
Ulisses's mother recalled, "He would go to training without breakfast, and eat when he got to Xerém." She also mentioned that Ulisses would sometimes "jump over the turnstiles on the bus." Bus drivers in the Rocha neighborhood knew him then and, knowing he had no money, would tell him, "Jump on, you only have to pay for that section."
By 2006, when Ulisses was officially promoted to the first team, his standing had already declined. Marcelo quickly surpassed him and was sold to Real Madrid in the middle of that year. Ulisses only played six games before being loaned to Juventude at the end of the season. Afterward, he also played for Caspasça and CRB.
Between 2022 and 2023, at the request of Ulisses's wife, his former teammates from the Xerém academy began to collectively help pay for his rehabilitation center fees. Marcelo, Arouca, Carlos Alberto, Torró, Radamés, Fernando, and some less well-known teammates formed a communication group and transferred money to Ulisses's family for several months until Ulisses escaped from the facility.
Radamés said, "If he doesn't want to help himself, there's not much we can do."
In 2008, Ulisses spent almost the entire year without a club. In December, he unexpectedly learned that Vasco wanted to sign him. A few months earlier, Roberto Dinamite had just taken over as Vasco's president and was reorganizing the squad for the 2009 Campeonato Brasileiro Série B.
Cléber Tornado played a crucial role in this story. He was invited by Dinamite, a fellow native of Duque de Caxias, to work for Vasco's youth team. When Dinamite was discussing with then-executive Rodrigo Caetano that the team needed a left-back, Tornado immediately recommended Ulisses.
Tornado said, "I was very close to Roberto. I said, 'Roberto, I have the right left-back.' When I recommended Ulisses, I didn't even know what his condition was; it was just because of how he performed when he worked with me before."
Dinamite, Rodrigo Caetano, and the Vasco board found it difficult to accept signing a left-back who hadn't played for a year based solely on a youth team coach's recommendation. But just then, Carlos Alberto walked into the office. The midfielder knew Ulisses from the Fluminense youth academy.
Tornado recounted, "I turned to him and said, 'Carlos Alberto, I'm recommending a player, Ulisses.' He said, 'That Cica? President, sign him. If it doesn't work out, I'll pay his salary.'"
Carlos Alberto confirmed this story to Globo Esporte: "It's true. You can write what I said in your article."
Ulisses was officially unveiled by Vasco on January 5, 2009, alongside a group of new signings, including full-backs Fagner, Paulo Sérgio, and Fernandinho, center-backs Gian Mariano and Tití, and midfielders Enrico, Jéferson, and Fernandinho.
On January 7, Vasco traveled to Vila Velha in Espírito Santo to begin pre-season preparations. Everyone arrived except Ulisses. The left-back had disappeared.
As Ulisses was never heard from again, Vasco canceled the signing. Two weeks later, Jornal do Brasil published a report about Ulisses, who was then hiding at his grandmother's house in Macaé.
In the interview, Ulisses claimed he was late on the day he was supposed to report to Vasco due to traffic. Later, he said he had mistaken the training time the next day and couldn't receive notifications because his phone was off.
Ulisses explained, "Later, I saw in a newspaper that I was late. I thought I would be fired, so I never went back to training."
Cléber Tornado, however, presented a different account: "No, that's not it at all. I specifically went to São Gonçalo because I knew where Ulisses lived. As soon as I got there, I talked to the people around for two minutes and understood everything. I found out he didn't report because of drugs. Despite that, I talked to him a lot: 'Come on, you still have a chance to get out, come with me.' But it was no use."
His interview with Jornal do Brasil was Ulisses's first public admission of drug use and his struggle to overcome addiction. After that, the left-back never played for any club again. The hand extended by Vasco was the last opportunity he received in football.
The January 2009 Jornal do Brasil report stated that Ulisses was under judicial investigation for attempted murder. Globo Esporte subsequently traced the relevant case files and police investigations to reconstruct the incident.
Around 3:30 AM on December 15, 2008, Ulisses was involved in a confrontation with a neighbor. During the argument, he pulled out a handgun and fired two shots, one of which hit the neighbor's right forearm.
Medical records from Alberto Torres State Hospital showed entry and exit wounds, indicating the bullet passed through the victim's arm.
Another bullet first ricocheted off the wooden window frame and then stopped near the crib of the couple's 28-day-old daughter. The child was in another room being breastfed by her mother and was startled by the sound of the argument.
The victim and his wife stated in their testimony that the conflict began when Ulisses tried to park his car in their garage and became enraged when he saw the gate locked. Ulisses fled the scene before the police arrived and was therefore not arrested on the spot.
Ulisses's girlfriend at the time was also questioned. She said Ulisses started drinking the night before, and after she told him he "drank too much," she was subjected to "punches, kicks, and slaps." According to her testimony, Ulisses then became uncontrollable and also accused her of having an affair with the neighbor.
When Ulisses was interviewed by Jornal do Brasil in Macaé, he had not yet been located by judicial authorities. He said then that the handgun belonged to a friend. Ulisses's mother, however, insisted that he "never touched guns or anything like that."
Veronica explained, "The gun appeared with him, and he was convinced that woman was cheating on him with another man. But he didn't shoot that person; he shot at the house. He left there so he wouldn't get caught."
The case was tried for a long time in the Fourth Criminal Court of the São Gonçalo District Court. Ulisses only gave his testimony in September 2011. He claimed the neighbor was holding a wooden stick and argued that he acted in self-defense. Ultimately, he was acquitted in a jury trial.
The longing for her deceased son still lingers, and the pain from his battle with drugs remains. Veronica can only comfort herself with one thought: things could have been worse.
Veronica said, "Thank God he was acquitted. My son never went to prison."
AF's PC site is now live! Browse full news, comments, match details and stats on your computer. Visit: www.allfootballapp.com