Nélson de Jesus Silva , better known simply as Dida , is a Brazilian former football goalkeeper. After starting his senior club career in Brazil in the early 1990s with Vitória, Dida became a penalty kick-saving specialist with Cruzeiro and Corinthians. He is perhaps best remembered for his successful and often tumultuous ten-year stint with Milan from 2000 to 2010, where he established himself as one of the world's best goalkeepers due to his shot-stopping ability and command of the area; he won multiple trophies and individual awards with the club, but became equally known for his propensity for errors as well as his excellent gameplay, while he gained media attention in 2005 for being hit by a lit flare during a match against crosstown rivals Internazionale.Dida won one Serie A title and twice the UEFA Champions League with Milan, with the first of those victories coming after he saved three penalties in the 2003 final against Serie A rivals Juventus. One of four Rossoneri goalies with over 300 total career appearances, Dida was inducted into Milan's Hall of Fame in 2014, and has joined other former club players for various off-pitch events and exhibition matches following his 2010 departure. After a two-year absence from playing, he returned to Brazil in 2012, suiting up for three teams—Portuguesa, Grêmio and Internacional—in as many seasons. At international level, Dida earned 91 caps in 11 years with the Brazil national team, winning the FIFA World Cup and an Olympic medal, and is the most successful player in the history of the FIFA Confederations Cup. He notably broke a color barrier during the 1999 Copa América by being the Seleção's first Afro-Brazilian starting goalkeeper since Moacyr Barbosa half a century earlier, and, in 2006, became the first black goalkeeper to start in a FIFA World Cup final for Brazil since 1950. He retired from international play after Brazil were eliminated in the quarterfinals. Considered to be one of the best goalkeepers of his generation, Dida is the first goalkeeper in history to become the goalkeeper of the year in 2005 by FIFPro and the first Brazilian goalkeeper to be nominated for the FIFA Ballon d'Or, is the first two-time winner of the FIFA Club World Cup, a seven-time nominee of the IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper award, and is one of only nine players to win both the Champions League and the Copa Libertadores. He was named the best Latin American keeper, and the sixth-best keeper overall, of the 21st century by IFFHS, and is widely rated among the all-time greats in the position for Brazil alongside Marcos, Rogério Ceni, Cláudio Taffarel and Gilmar. He has been credited with helping end the prejudice against black goalkeepers in Brazilian club football due to his success in Europe, and upon joining Internacional in 2014, became the first Afro-Brazilian keeper to play for the club in 43 years.
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