Football players protest congested calendar by refusing to play after whistle is blown

Brazilian football fans were in for a surprise when they attended their club’s matches on Wednesday night.

In a nation wide show of solidarity in many stadiums, football players looked beyond club rivalry to protest against the congested football calendar.

In the Sao Paulo vs Flamengo game, immediately after kickoff, both sets of players simply kicked the ball between themselves with no real intention of scoring or even attacking to waste time at the start of the match, In the Criciuma vs Atletico Paranaense match, all the players simply stood in one spot and crossed their arms.

The entire protest was part of the ‘Common Sense Football Club’ movement which is a Brazilian footballers’ group to protest against the domestic football calendar because it was too long and hard on the players.

Watch the video of one such protest below.

Here’s a picture of more protests from around the country.