Brazilian Soccer Fan Tattoos His Favorite Team’s Jersey on His Torso

Die-hard soccer fans have been known to do some crazy things to honor their favorite teams, but I don’t remember anyone actually covering their entire upper body in a permanent tattoo of their team’s official jersey. Well, a fan of Brazilian soccer club Flamengo spent an entire year doing just that.

José Maurício dos Anjos, a 33-year-old man from Rio de Janeiro, has been making headlines in his home country for having a life-size version of his favorite soccer team’s jersey tattooed on his upper body. It reportedly took a tattoo artist 90 hours of work split in 32 sessions, throughout an entire year. The striped black and red jersey tattoo comes complete with the club’s emblem on the left side of his chest, and the number 10 tattooed on his back.

Photo: @mauricio.flamengo/Instagram

The 33-year-old, whose Instagram handle is @mauricio.flamengo, told Brazilian media that he had been dreaming of having his favorite club’s jersey permanently tattooed on his body ever since childhood, and now his dream has finally been realized.

“My passion for Flamengo comes from childhood. My father was also a big fan of the team and always brought me jerseys and branded toys from the club. I always dreamed of doing an homage like this. Today, 40% of my body is tattooed with the colors of Flamengo,” José Maurício told O Globo.

The Flamengo fans has been documenting the creation of the jersey tattoo on his Instagram, where he regularly posted photos of the work in progress, posing topless with Flamengo legends, current players and other fans.

With 25,000 followers on Instagram, he seems to be quite popular among Flamengo supporters. However, his tattoo project has been drawing mixed responses from the general public. While like-minded soccer fans have commended him for his dedication to his favorite club, with some saying that they want to get the jerseys of their favorite teams tattooed, regular people have been less impressed, calling him and “idiot”, “retarded” and advising that he get some help.

Well, you know, it may not be something I’d ever do, but as long as it doesn’t affect me in any way, who am I to judge a man for following his dream?