An under-20 football match in Brazil ended with 51 red cards and a mass brawl involving, according to the referee’s report, players, coaches and six ball attendants. The match between Uberlândia and Mamoré in the Minas Gerais state championship was played at Parque do Sabiá Stadium and ended in a 3–1 victory for the visitors. “The dirtiest football match ever” was the description in the Daily Mail headline about the game.
A total of 43 players and eight members of the coaching staffs were sent off. The submitted report states that 22 of them were from Uberlândia and 21 from Mamoré, with four representatives of each club also receiving red cards.
The most serious moment came in the 54th minute, after Mamoré scored its third goal. According to the Daily Mail’s account, the celebrations turned into a chase and a brawl between players from the two teams. The referee recorded punches, kicks and objects being thrown. The objects used reportedly included chairs and stretchers, and military police were called to the stadium because of the scale of the conflict.
Before the mass confrontation, Uberlândia had already been reduced to ten players. Luike Bispo dos Santos was sent off after striking an opposing player in the stomach. Subsequently, the home team’s manager Willer Francisco Silva and two members of his staff entered the pitch to confront referee Fernando Patrick. The report also states that threats of violence were made.
Reports differ on the distribution of the penalties. According to the Daily Mail article, 22 representatives of Uberlândia and 21 of Mamoré were sent off, while the Brazilian outlet ge reports that 22 home players and 29 visitors were dismissed, with the total of 51 remaining the same. ge specifies that 48 of the red cards were recorded because of the mass brawl, while the rest were shown for separate offences.
The previous highest tally was 36 red cards in a match between Argentina’s Atlético Claypole and Victoriano Arenas in 2011. The Daily Mail presents the Brazilian match as a new world record, but other recent reports note that Guinness World Records has not yet updated its official register. Thus, the 51 dismissals exceed the previously recognised mark by 15, but the record’s final status remains subject to formal confirmation.