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Soccer fans are known to be some of the most dedicated in the world of sport.
But one Brazilian superfan has taken the idea of club loyalty to a whole new level by tattooing his favourite team’s strip onto his torso.
Jose Mauricio dos Anjos endured more than 90 hours under the needle to get a replica of Brazilian team Flamengo’s kit so that he’s always wearing the shirt.
It took 32 painful sessions to bring his vision to life.
Initially, Mauricio wanted a smaller version of the jersey but a conversation with the tattoo artist changed his mind.
“I always wanted to have a Flamengo tattoo, ever since I became a fan as a child,” he says.
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“Last year I decided to get a tattoo of the jersey, but I thought it would be too expensive – between R$10 000 [about R29 800] and R$15 000 [about R44 700]. So I chose to get something smaller, that covered only part of my shoulder and chest.”
However, he decided to ink his entire upper body after the tattoo artist said he would do the job at a heavily discounted price so he could get exposure for his work.
Mauricio, who is married with two children, loves his club so much that he tattooed the team shirt over a tattoo of his eldest daughter.
The artwork was her footprint, with her name and date of birth.
“It was on my back, but the jersey tattoo covered it so I’ll redo that one somewhere else,” he says.
Mauricio’s permanent soccer kit has become such a hit in football circles he also went on to meet Brazilian soccer legend Zico to show him the body art.
He’s not the only soccer fan to have gone to extreme lengths to show support for their favourite team.
In 2010 Colombian superfan Felipe Alvarez tattooed the green strips of Atletico Nacional on his torso.
A year later, German fan Martin Hueschen made headlines when he tattooed the German Bundesliga trophy and the face of then-Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp on his back.
SOURCES: Time, Vice, Sambafoot
