53 Red Cards: Brazil Youth Match Sets World Record After Mass Brawl

Photo: Al Jazeera (a still from footage of the match)

A youth football match in Brazil has set a world record nobody wanted. Fifty-three red cards were handed out after a mass brawl during the under-20 semi-final between Uberlandia and Mamore on Sunday, and the fallout is still growing, with one club now pulling out of the return leg.

The game was the first leg of the Minas Gerais state championship second division under-20 semi-final, at the Parque do Sabia Stadium in Uberlandia. Mamore were leading 3-1 when it all fell apart.

Trouble started early in the second half, referee Fernando Patrick Drosghic Modesto wrote in his report, when a number of Uberlandia officials ran onto the pitch after one of their players was sent off. The match stopped for 40 minutes before it could restart.

Mamore then scored in the ninth minute of stoppage time to go 3-1 up. As Mamore player Davi celebrated the goal, he taunted the Uberlandia bench, and that was the spark. Players and staff from both sides poured in, and the fight spread across the pitch.

Modesto could not show the cards on the pitch in the chaos, so he wrote them into his report instead. The count came to 43 players, eight members of the coaching staff and two Uberlandia board members: 53 in all. His report says: "In the 54th minute of the second half, a generalised brawl broke out, making it impossible to show the red cards and to carry out the match-closing protocol." He called the game off, filed a police report over threats made against him, and said Mamore's team later vandalised the dressing room.

The old mark was 36 red cards, set in an Argentine fifth division match between Atletico Claypole and Victoriano Arenas in February 2011. The Brazilian game beats it by 17, though Guinness has not yet formally recognised the new record. Either way, it is the most dismissals ever recorded in a single match.

Then came the twist on Wednesday. Uberlandia said it would forfeit the second leg as a "gesture of fair play", because Mamore no longer had enough eligible players to field a team. Mamore go through to the final. Uberlandia added that it had already taken disciplinary steps against those involved, saying player development is "above all, a matter of personal development".

It is a strange end to a strange game. Como smashed Lens 9-1 in the Champions League this week to match a scoring record, and now a youth game in Brazil has matched that mood in a very different way, with a record built on red cards instead of goals. Zverev and Djokovic crashed out of the Paris Masters on the same day, so it has been a week of shocks across sport, but nothing quite like 53 players, coaches and officials sent off in one afternoon.

• Red cards in one match: 53 (43 players, 8 coaching staff, 2 board members)
• Old record: 36, set in Argentina in February 2011
• Match halted: 40 minutes before play restarted
• Final score: Mamore won 3-1, then Uberlandia forfeited the return leg

Sources

• Al Jazeera: Guinness World Record broken as 53 red cards shown in Brazil under-20 match
• Reuters: Referee hands out record 53 red cards after mass brawl erupts in Brazilian under-20s match
• Gulf News: World record 53 red cards in one football match

What happens next: Mamore play the final short of players, and the state federation still has to rule on punishments for the 53 sent off.

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