Brazil’s socks seal a secret weapon: messages from home
The night before the 2025 Homeless World Cup kicked off here in Oslo, Brazil coach Pupo Fernandes gathered his players together in the team hotel to give each of them a special, unexpected gift.
The gift was a pair of personalised shin pads - in green, yellow and blue of course, the colours of the Brazil flag - each with images of the recipient wearing the Brazil jersey emblazoned on them.
The players would be taking to the field here in Rådhusplassen in the heart of Norway's capital city with a secret piece of inspiration hidden beneath their socks.
But there was more. The players noticed that in the corner of each set of shin pads was a QR code. Their manager told them to scan each one using their mobile phones.
What was waiting for them via the link was a surprise that sent them all into floods of tears.
The videos were messages of support that their families had secretly recorded, to be shown to them when they had arrived safely in Oslo, telling them how proud they were that they had been selected to represent Brazil at the Homeless World Cup.
Pupo explained:
“The players didn’t know anything. I created a WhatsApp group with the families and asked them to record videos of about 30 seconds to one minute long. We also collated photos the families had sent us and put them on Instagram with a message to the players. We showed them to the players in the hotel room. It was really emotional. All the players cried a lot.”
The idea for the personalised shin pads with QR codes came from Pupo’s friend Cássio Góes, who co-owns shinpad firm Profix Sports.
Góes, who, like Pupo, hails from the city of São Roque in the state of São Paulo, has made custom shin pads for the likes of Neymar and major Brazilian clubs such as Palmeiras, São Paulo, Santos, Atlético Mineiro and Cruzeiro.
He had previously been asked to make personalised shin pads with QR codes on them by legendary Brazil captain Marta Vieira da Silva, the all-time top goal scorer of Brazil women’s football.
Pupo added: “It was Cássio that gave me the idea. It’s the second year that we’ve done it. I did it for the first time in Sacramento [at the 2023 Homeless World Cup] and now again here in Oslo.
“Cássio works with [Brazil captain] Marta and at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021 she organised it for the women’s team. Then Cássio told me I should also do it. So we did it in Sacramento.”
So now, not only could the players sense the support from their families as they took to the pitch, they could also literally feel it tucked into their socks.
Pupo said:
“The players use the shin pads in all the games. They are always looking at them. They will keep them forever. It’s a great memory to have.”
Words by Craig Williams | Photos by John Anderson