for the club in 43 years. Early life Nélson de Jesus Silva was born on 7 October 1973 in the city of Irará in the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia, and is one of ten children along with five sisters and four brothers. He was raised in Lagoa da Canoa in the smaller neighboring state of Alagoas, to where his family had moved when he was three months old. His first sport of choice was volleyball, which he played with his brothers, until he discovered football by way of futsal and pickup games. His preferred position was that of goalkeeper, despite its longtime unpopularity in Brazilian football and the country's history of discrimination against black players in the position. A supporter of Rio de Janeiro-based club Flamengo, Dida helped form an amateur squad called Flamenguinho ("little Flamengo") at age thirteen, which marked his first experience in organized team play. He took his future playing name from Flamengo striker Dida, while his footballing idols were goalkeepers Rinat Dasayev and future Seleção teammate Cláudio Taffarel, who had enjoyed successful runs in Italy and Turkey and whom Dida later considered a pioneer in the growing acceptance of Brazilian keepers into European clubs. Club career Vitória, Cruzeiro, and Corinthians In 1990, at age 17, Dida made his club football debut with now-defunct Alagoan team Cruzeiro de Arapiraca. Two years later, he joined the youth academy of hometown team and 1992 Campeonato Baiano winners Vitória. In 1993, after starting in Brazil's FIFA World Youth Championship victory, Dida made 24 starts in goal for Vitória's senior squad as they finished runner-up to Palmeiras in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, and he became the youngest recipient, at 20, of Brazilian football magazine Placar's annual Bola de Prata award as the Série A's best goalkeeper. Dida was then acquired by Minas Gerais-based club Cruzeiro in 1994, and in a span of five seasons, he won four state titles, the 1996 Copa do Brasil and the 1997 Copa Libertadores, and two more Bola de Prata goalkeeping awards. However, in January 1999, he publicly stated his desire to test his skills in Europe and catch the attention of the Brazil national team coaching staff in the process, and therefore took the club to court in order to cancel the remainder of his contract so he could sign with AC Milan, the only European team that had extended him an offer.