Football in Rio

No trip to Rio would be complete without a futbol (or football or soccer) game! Luckily, there was a fairly big play-off game between Botafogo, the largest of the 4 clubs in Rio, and Fluminense at Maracana Stadium. We had visited the outside of the stadium on our city tour, but attending a huge rivalry game was a highlight on our whole trip. The stadium originally seated nearly 200,000 people!! I can't even imagine what that would be like, but recent safety and comfort remodeling has reduced the capacity down to under 100,000.

Fluminense Torcida is known as the Tri-color. Obviously all the fans sit in the cheap upper seats. They had their own chants and flags and banners and band, but NOTHING compared to our side!

We sat in the crazy flag waving section, and regularly had to watch the game around the half-naked men and furiously waving banners.

I guess similar to a fan club here, they have large social groups of football fans. We sat among Torcida Jovem do Botafogo, who were loud, rowdy and ready to win the game. During the chants or after a goal, the crowd went NUTS. They all sang together, had their gear on and watched the game with amazing intensity.

And don't forget the flashing sparklers that were passed throughout the crowd and made the sidelines appear like a paparazzi show. Oh, let the beer flow with fire!

And then they had this GIGANTIC banner that would periodically come rushing down from the stands behind you, wave around until people became too upset about not seeing the game and then suddenly be rolled back up into the upper-decks.

The video above is just a regular chant session. Note there were at least 3 separate groups of fans, each with their own flags, band and style of cheering. Occasionally they would all synchronize and chant together.

The video above is totally worth watching- it was after a GOOOOOAAAAALLLLLL and the fans went NUTS! Luckily, our side won the game and the crowd was loud and rowdy a LONG time after the end of the game. It took us about an HOUR to just get out of the stadium. Fans still chanting and beer still flowing. It was an AWESOME night!

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Despite the 2 hours sitting in traffic to get to the stadium, it was an experience of a lifetime.