Soccer Moms (more differences between Canada and Brazil)

In Canada, we lovingly refer to those moms who drive their kids and all their kids’ friends around from soccer game to soccer game in a Chrysler Windstar minivan as soccer moms. We also have hockey moms (and dads), but it’s a bit of a controversial topic, so I won’t go there!

In Brazil, being a soccer – or more specifically, a football – mom is a whole different story. This past Tuesday, Alice Custódio Narazé, mother of the Corinthians’ Marinho was kidnapped from the family’s home in the city of Santos. Marinho’s mother is the fifth football mom to be kidnapped in the state of São Paulo since last November. The other victims include Robinho’s (Santos) mother, kidnapped in November, who spent forty-one days in captivity before being released on the eve of a big match after the family paid a R$200,000 (approximately US$73,000); Grafite’s (São Paulo) mother, kidnapped in February; Rogério’s (ex-Corinthians; currently with Sporting) in March; and Luís Fabiano’s (ex-São Paulo; currently with Porto) also in March. Along with the new case, the case of Luís Fabiano’s mother has yet to be solved.