Praised for the noise it made despite not having filled its sector in the final of the Copa Libertadores, against Flamengo, in Montevideo, the Palmeiras fans will try to repeat the party in the Club World Cup. And this despite the distance and cost of a trip to the United Arab Emirates.
As with the decision of the continental tournament, the organized Mancha Alvi Verde raised funds to help pay for the transport of a number of associates. With an online crowdfunding, he also asked for donations from illustrious and wealthy Palmeiras.
“In Uruguay, we stood out because we took the people who have the DNA of the stands. Our people are low-income, poor class, and we managed to do a legal fundraising job. It was the same thing with the World Cup. there will be so many fans, even because the values are much higher”, said Jorge Luiz, president of Mancha.
According to him, in the Libertadores final, the fans managed to charter five buses with exchanges and paid for one more. Considering costs such as assistance in the payment of tickets for those who did not have the financial means, PCR exams and food, the organization spent around R$ 2,000 with each of the people from Palmeiras that it took to Uruguay.
For the Worlds, just the travel package, without tickets, has already risen to R$ 13,000. The fans managed to exchange for 12 packages, paid for five more tickets and shared another R$ 20 thousand for general expenses for members with less purchasing power. In total, the cost per person went up about nine times.
“It will give about R$ 18 thousand for each [torcedor]. Economy class trip, two-star hotel, no luxury… Although everything is luxurious there, right?” says Jorge Luiz. released after the trip.
The president of the fans is still trying with FIFA for permission to enter the stadium with flags and plastic bands, but believes that the entity will only give permission for hand flags, horizontal cloth bands and drum instruments.
Also according to Jorge, only the São Paulo branch of the fans (the main one in Brazil) should go about 200 people, not counting those who go on their own. He said that sub-headquarters from other cities in the country and also from Portugal, England, the United States, Australia and Ireland informed that they had organized trips to attend the games in Abu Dhabi.
Around 1,000 people from Palmeiras are expected to be in the stands at the Zayed Sports City stadium. Among them will be Edson Batista Reis, known as Júnior, as well as Renato Marino and his son, Arthur.
“I bought the package two days after the Libertadores final, Monday morning [a final foi em um sábado, 27 de novembro]as soon as the agencies released it, as soon as possible”, says Marino, 40 years old.
He and his son Arthur, 10, arrive in neighboring Dubai this Monday (7th) and have transport booked to Abu Dhabi for the semifinals, scheduled for Tuesday (8th).
The problem is that, so far, he has managed to buy only one of the two tickets he needs for the match against Al Ahly. Confident, he says the problem won’t happen in the final, a game for which he already has two entries guaranteed.
On the other hand, Edson Batista, Junior, bought everything at the last minute. He didn’t go to the Libertadores final because the price was too high and he had just started a new venture, a driving school. He didn’t go to the Worlds either, until a friend decided to provoke him and invited him.
“What saved me was a credit card, which I had applied for a while ago, and it arrived in the last week. I paid everything in a thousand installments. My mother was p…, because I just bought a new company, but I’m not going to abandon the business. I’m going to work from home, but from there”, he says.
“I took a hotel more or less, which has breakfast. I’m going to live with this breakfast and then I can only pay for McDonald’s”, completes he, who is a member of Mancha, but paid for everything out of his own pocket, to leave the aid from the crowd to others who needed it more.
In 2022, the Palmeiras hope to forget the disappointment of the last World Cup, when the team was not only eliminated in the debut, to the Mexican Tigres, but also lost the dispute for third place to Al Ahly, opponent in this year’s edition.
For Marino’s son Arthur, the trophy also means an end to jokes about the club not having a world championship title.
“We went to watch the Copinha final. The game was over, my son turned to me and said: ‘Dad, now, if we are world champions, this will solve 50% of the problems I have at school'”, he recalls. Marino.
Junior thinks a little differently. An eyewitness to the 1999 Libertadores title at Palestra Itália, he gave up going to Uruguay because he thought it was expensive. But he agreed to go to the UAE even for a much higher price. The reason: the possibility of an unpublished title.
“Many say that we already have the 1951 World Cup, but Copa Rio was written on the trophy. We will accept it soon. It may even be the second championship, but, for me, it will be unprecedented. luggage”, says the Palmeiras confident.
Source: Folha
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