18/06/2026
🏴🇧🇷 The World Cup provides a great opportunity to get together and support local businesses with plenty of venues showing the games.
We’re celebrating Scotland’s football connections with Brazil during Scotland Loves Local week.
Local businesses The Cartvale and The Busby Hotel met with Council Leader Owen O’Donnell beside the sculpture of Thomas Donohoe, the ‘Father of Brazilian Football,’ who brought football from Busby to Brazil.
The first football match in Brazil was organised by Donohoe in 1894. From that moment Thomas began to organise football matches at the Bangu Mill where he worked and to form local competitions with other migrant groups and workplaces. From these humble beginnings the game went on to become the premier sport of Brazil with Donohoe playing a key role.
Today, football is a cornerstone of Brazilian culture and the local Bangu football team, Bangu Atlético, take great pride in the contribution Thomas Donohoe made to Brazilian football all those years ago. So much so that they commissioned a five-metre statue of him which was unveiled to mark the 2014 World Cup, the final of which was hosted in Rio De Janeiro. The historical legacy of Thomas Donohoe was recently featured in the BBC documentary Kevin Bridges: In Search of the Beautiful Game.
Here’s hoping for a win for Scotland against Brazil next Wednesday.🏴
