Fußball in São Paulo

Football was also watched in São Paulo and, in addition to a few games in the lower classes of the Campeonato Paulista, the highlights were clearly the derby between FC São Paulo and Palmeiras (the so-called “Choque-Rei” - the meeting of the kings) and the respective visits to Corinthians and FC Santos, home club of none other than Pelé, probably the greatest footballer this country has ever produced.

A uniform football league for the entire country has only existed since 1971, the reason for this is the enormous distances in one of the largest countries in the world and the associated difficulties with travel and logistics.

Previously, each state played its own championship and, wanting to maintain some of that tradition, there continues to be a state championship in each state at the beginning of the year and before the regular season. In São Paulo this is the Campeonato Paulista.

This competition also gives the smaller teams in the respective regions the opportunity to play against the country's big and famous clubs, even if they are a few leagues above their own league in the regular championship.

All of the games attended in São Paulo were worth seeing in some special way, be it because of the completely crazy fans or the special nature of the stadiums. All four big clubs in the metropolitan area could be seen (Santos is about 70 km outside of the city on the coast) and the games of the big clubs were consistently well attended and very atmospheric.

The smaller clubs particularly impressed with their rancid stadiums and the cozy atmosphere during the game (it sometimes looks a little different in the outskirts after the final whistle; at São Bernardo I narrowly avoided being mugged while waiting for my Uber).

Special recommendation in São Paulo is definitely CA Juventus: a smaller club from the Mooca neighborhood, founded by Italian immigrants. Small old stadium (opened in 1929) which is almost always sold out with 4,000 seats, a wide selection of local specialties for a small dollar and fanatical fans who belt out all kinds of melodies at a decent volume for 90 minutes in both back goal corners.

What I generally remember positively about watching football in Brazil: free choice of seats everywhere, even at the big classicos (no one is annoying because they claim a certain seat) and a lot of women and children in the stadium. What's not so pleasant, however, is that the private parts are regularly touched with a practiced grip during entry controls.

The referees also have less to laugh about here and are accompanied from the field with armed escorts at every game.

This will probably be a requirement of the association due to incidents in the past.