São Paulo – In October this year, Brazilian fan Daniel Bartolomeu Sbruzzi was named the person who participated in the most FIFA World Cups by Guinness World Records. With ten World Cups on his tally, he is breaking his own record, adding up to 11, watching the tournament in Qatar.
The dentist’s first Cup was in 1978, in Argentina. “I was dressed as a bride because, in my city, there is a carnival party called ‘Vai Quem Quer’ [‘Whoever Wants, can Go,’ in free translation], and I appeared a lot on television, so I got a taste for the costume,” he said. Sbruzzi was born in Guarapuava, in the state of Paraná, but lives in Taubaté, in the São Paulo state countryside.
The 1982 World Cup in Spain was the only one he did not participate in after that. He went to Mexico in 1986, Italy in 1990, the United States in 1994, France in 1998, Japan and South Korea in 2002, Germany in 2006, South Africa in 2010, saw the World Cup in Brazil in 2014, traveled to Russia in 2018, and now, he’s in Qatar.
His favorite match was the 2002 World Cup final between Brazil and Germany, where Brazil won 2-0 and clinched its fifth world championship. Ronaldo Nazário scored both goals. Sbruzzi always travels with his friends from the ‘Vai Quem Quer’ carnival group.
In Brazil’s 7-1 loss to Germany in 2014, Sbruzzi watched from behind the goal and saw Germany’s first five goals up close in the first half. “It was horrible,” he recalled. The semifinal game eliminated the green-and-yellow team playing at home in the Mineirão stadium in Belo Horizonte (capital city of Minas Gerais state).
ANBA’s report met with Sbruzzi and his friends in Cairo, the capital of Egypt. They were taking a tour of the pyramids before heading to Qatar. The fan says he is passionate about the World Cup and Brazil and was excited to see the championship in an Arab country. He even took an Arab costume, which he wore in Brazil’s first match against Serbia, in which the Brazilian team won 2-0.
Translated by Elúsio Brasileiro
