The article is a first-person account by photographer Michael Donald of making a portrait of Brazilian football great Jairzinho, who scored in Brazil’s 4-1 World Cup final win over Italy in 1970. Donald explains that the image formed part of a long-term project to photograph every living player who had scored in a World Cup final, and why Jairzinho’s portrait stood out because it was taken in a Rio favela where he now works with disadvantaged children. The story matters as both a tribute to a major football figure and a reflection on the risks and realities involved in documentary photography.

Donald says the project began in 2007, when he realised only 58 people had ever scored in a World Cup final and only 34 were still alive; over four years, he travelled to 13 countries and photographed them all with a documentary crew. Jairzinho was photographed in Manguinhos, where he runs a football school, and Donald describes how outsiders were expected to leave the favela by 5pm and how the team had local protection. After spotting an old table football game and asking for 10 extra minutes to shoot there, Donald continued working until he discovered a man on a bicycle had pulled a gun on members of his crew because of their presence in the area.