Die-hard soccer fans have been known to do some crazy things to honour their favourite 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 favourite soccer team’s jersey tattooed on his upper body.
It reportedly took a tattoo artist 90 hours of work split into 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.
The 33-year-old, whose Instagram handle is @mauricio.flamengo, told Brazilian media that he had been dreaming of having his favourite 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 a homage like this. Today, 40% of my body is tattooed with the colours of Flamengo,” José Maurício told O Globo.
The Flamengo fans have 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 favourite club, with some saying that they want to get the jerseys of their favourite teams tattooed, regular people have been less impressed, calling him and “idiot”, “retarded” and advising that he get some help.