Rivaldo won the Ballon d'Or and the World Cup, and he scored some of the finest goals the game has seen. Then, at the 2002 World Cup, he produced the worst dive in football history.
The match was against Turkey. The ball struck Rivaldo on the knee, and he went down clutching his face as though he had been shot. The Turkish player Hakan Ünsal was sent off.
What did FIFA do about Rivaldo's dive?
It fined him 11,670 Swiss francs. For a man who had won the Ballon d'Or in 1999, that was small change, and it is about the cheapest punishment the game has handed out for a cheat that size.
The Brazilian, a forward who could also play behind the strikers, had a career from 1991 to 2015 that took in Santa Cruz, Mogi Mirim, Corinthians, Palmeiras, Deportivo, Barcelona, AC Milan, Olympiacos, Bunyodkor, Kabuscorp and São Caetano. He had more talent in his left foot than most players have in their whole body.
That is what made the dive so hard to take. It was so shameless that even Brazilians were embarrassed, and for millions of fans it became the thing they remember him for. A player that good did not need to cheat. He did it anyway, and the Turkish player walked off for it.
Tomorrow: number 27 on the villains list.
