Madonna is in Brazil to perform a show on the beach of Copacabana, in Rio de Janeiro, on Saturday (4), and it is not the first time the famous singer has participated in the culture of Brazil.
The Queen of Pop, as she is known, has already worn shirts of some clubs from Rio de Janeiro, and even caused a controversy in the title of the 2008 Brazilian Championship, won by São Paulo.
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Madonna and her relationship with Brazilian football
The singer came to perform for the first time in Brazil in 1993, where she set foot in the Maracanã and Morumbi, two iconic stadiums.
At the show in Rio de Janeiro, she wore the Flamengo shirt and sang the English version of Garota de Ipanema. The club posted on Friday (3rd) a photo of Madonna with the team’s shirt and the caption “See you tomorrow”.
Madonna “turned the shirt” in 2009, when Vasco was disputing Serie B, and was the cover of a club magazine.
The magazine headline said: “Madonna gets to know and is enchanted by the cruzmaltina history”.
Controversy with the São Paulo title in 2008
Madonna returned to perform in São Paulo in 2008, again at the Maracanã and Morumbi. São Paulo was fighting for the Brazilian Championship title that year and needed just a draw to become champions.
The shows took place in December, and the referee initially selected for the match was carioca Wagner Tardelli. One day before the game, the CBF removed Tardelli from the scale due to the show and, after a draw, selected the Bahian Jailson Macedo Freitas to command the duel.
At the time, what was said is that Tardelli would be on a list of special guests for the presentations. There were even accusations that the São Paulo board was bribing the referee. Tricolor denied everything.
“There is terrorism going on over São Paulo, talking about envelopes, money and recipients. The news has no consistency at all, it was not something concrete,” said João Paulo de Jesus Lopes, then the club’s football director.
The referee responded by claiming he was not even a fan of the singer. The president of the FPF – São Paulo Football Federation, Marco Polo del Nero, even filed a complaint with the CBF and the São Paulo Public Prosecutor’s Office about the case.
In 2016, Del Nero was sentenced to pay R$ 300,000 in moral damages to Tardelli, as the bribery accusations were not confirmed and São Paulo won the third consecutive national title.
Remembering Zagallo
Sambafoot Series launched a new documentary about the football legend Zagallo. Known as ‘Velho Lobo‘ and as superstitious as it gets, Zagallo helped shape what Brazilian football is nowadays — as a player and as a coach.
Binge the first four episodes available on Sambafoot’s Youtube channel. Stay tuned for upcoming releases as we keep telling this legend’s life story.
