Masseurs love for Brazilian club Aparecidense gets them relegated

Aparecidense masseur Romildo da Silva decided to take matters into his own hands (Getty Images)

Aparecidense have been ejected from Brazil’s Serie D, the fourth tier of football in the South American country after their masseur, inspires by his love for the club, made a double save on the goalline during a play-off match, according to a report on Yahoo!

Aparecidense were playing rivals Tupi in a 4th division promotion play-off match and the match ended in a 2-2 draw, meaning Aparecidense would progress on the away goals rule.

Tupi then mustered a great chance to take the lead and it looked as thought the ball was rolling past the goalkeeper into the net but the masseur stepped in and stopped the ball with his feet and then scrambled away the rebound as well.

“It was our only chance. If I hadn’t done it, Aparecidense would have been knocked out,” said team masseur Romildo Fonseca da Silva at the time.

“I don’t regret it because I did it out of love for the club.”

The Superior Court of Sports Justice, however, gave him cause for regret as they ruled that his actions were “contrary to sporting ethics” and the original match would be anulled and Tupi would be given a 3-1 aggregate victory to progress.