The final of the Mineiro Championship left an unusual event in the brazilian soccer. The match between Cruzeiro and Atlético Mineiro ended with 23 players sent off, a figure that marks a new record for red cards in an official match in Brazil.
The match, played on Sunday, ended with a 1-0 victory for Cruzeiro, who was crowned state champion. However, the title was overshadowed by a pitched battle between the players of both teams in the final minutes of the match.
A new record in Brazilian football
Referee Matheus Candançan showed 23 red cards after the incidents: 12 Cruzeiro players and 11 Atlético Mineiro players were sent off, according to the referee report.
Among those sanctioned were prominent footballers such as Cássio and Kaio Jorge from Cruzeiro, as well as Hulk and Junior Alonso from the Atlético Mineiro team.
The figure surpasses the previous record in Brazilian football, which was 22 expulsions in a single match, recorded in 1954 during a match between Portuguesa and Botafogo in the old Rio-São Paulo tournament, according to the specialized site Acervo da Bola.
The world record is still far away
Despite what happened in Minas Gerais, the world record continues to be much higher.
The Guinness Book of Records maintains as a historical record 36 red cards in a single match, during a match between Club Atlético Claypole and Victoriano Arenas played on February 27, 2011 in the fifth division of Argentine football.
The fight that unleashed chaos
The incident began in added time when goalkeeper Everson, from Atlético Mineiro, collided with midfielder Christian, from Cruzeiro, while they were fighting for a ball.
After the action, the goalkeeper lunged at his rival when he was on the ground, which caused players from both teams to enter the conflict, generating pushes, kicks and hits that forced the referee to expel almost everyone involved.
Reactions after the game
One of the protagonists of the incident, striker Hulk, offered a public apology after the match.
“I apologize to everyone who was in the stadium, to those who watched the game on television and especially to the children who have football as their inspiration,” the 39-year-old attacker wrote on his social networks.
The player also assured that during the match he had already warned the referee that the tension could escalate if the match was not controlled.
For his part, Kaio Jorge, scorer of the goal that gave Cruzeiro the title, regretted what happened and assured that the team did not want the final to end that way.
Atlético Mineiro also issued a statement rejecting any form of violence and ensuring that it will take measures to prevent similar episodes from being repeated.
Beyond the championship won by Cruzeiro, the final of the 2026 Mineiro Championship will remain in the history of Brazilian football for an unlikely reason: the highest number of expulsions recorded in an official match in the country.
