Marquinhos Abdalla, Brazilian basketball icon from Fluminense, dies | OneFootball

Last Sunday, at the age of 74, former player Marquinhos Abdalla, one of the greatest names in the history of Brazilian basketball, passed away. Discovered by Fluminense, the former center built an important part of his career wearing the tricolor jersey.

At the club, Abdalla played from the age of 15 to 22 and won the state championship five times in a row between 1970 and 1974. He also made history by becoming the first Brazilian to be drafted into the NBA, in 1976, by the Portland Trail Blazers.

For the Brazilian national team, he competed in three Olympic Games (1972, 1980, and 1984), was runner-up at the World Championship in 1970, won the Pan American Games in 1971, and claimed three South American titles.

Fluminense mourned the death of the former athlete and announced that it will hold a minute of silence in honor of the tricolor idol before the matches against Brasília Vôlei, for the Women's Superliga, and Corinthians, for the Brazilian Championship.

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