Zico reveals how he became a television presenter by chance: ‘It was a necessity’

Flamengo’s biggest idol, Brazil’s most popular club, Arthur Antunes Coimbra, Zico, has a lot of stories to tell. One of the most curious things that he had never revealed was how Galinho de Quintino, as he is known, became a television presenter.

Zico has previously worked for the now-defunct Esporte Interativo (2007-2021) and Jovem Pan. Today, he runs the talk-show Resenha do Galinho, shown by Band on open TV and on BandSports, the group’s sports channel on pay TV. Furthermore, Zico worked as a commentator on football broadcasts.

Zico’s initial idea, in fact, was to just stay in the comments, but an emergency changed everything. “Sometimes, things happen out of necessity,” said the former player, in an exclusive interview with F5.

“When I was working at Esporte Interativo, I was together with Mauro Beting [comentarista esportivo do SBT e da TNT Sports] making a program. But Mauro Beting has a thousand things to do and he started to let me down (laughs)”, reveals Zico.

Annoyed by the fact that there was always a turnover in command of the broadcasts due to Mauro Beting’s absence, Zico needed a quick solution so that his then program wouldn’t be left in the lurch. And immediately, he thought of one person: himself.

“Each day, it was a presenter. I said: ‘Shall we find a way here? It’s just going to be me now!’ (laughs) And I kept walking on eggshells, doing things, until I got the hang of it. I watch a lot of television, a lot of debates. I have to be myself, on a daily basis. my life,” he says.

Today, Zico understands that he is a much more confident presenter due to the experience he has accumulated in recent years. “By talking a lot, by doing a lot of commercials, by always giving interviews, I feel much better today than I did at the beginning,” he says.