Brazilian football club builds cemetery for fans final act of devotion

Global Business

One Brazilian football team is hoping fans love them so much, they’ll want to be buried in a special team-sponsored cemetery. CCTV America’s Paulo Cabral reported this story from Sao Paulo.

The Corinthians are currently a cemetery shaped like a football field on the outskirts of Sao Paulo. While the project is still in its initial stages, plots are already for sale, ranging from $2,000-$4,000.

“Everybody is saying it’s a good project. Even though at first sight it’s a bit strange, because it’s related to something not usual in football,” Alexandre Ferreira, marketing manager for the Corinthians said. “But we have a number of people already interested in buying space in this cemetery.”

The Corinthians experimented with this concept about a year ago. The club offered insurance policies to cover the costs of a supporter’s funeral, including a coffin with the team’s black and white colors, and a chapel decorated with the team’s symbols.

A cemetery seemed like the logical next step.

Fans of the Corinthians embrace their nickname, The Crazy Bunch, so they don’t mind what others say.

“Many in my family said I was crazy! Everybody thinks so because I already bought my plot in the cemetery. But if it’s something related to Corinthians, I want to have it,” Joao Geraldo da Silva, civil servant, said. “When I told my friends from other teams what I had done, they said they would never come to see my grave when I died.”