Palmeiras fan who lived at the club since the 1970s dies, aged 86 | OneFootball

By Bruno Ceccon

Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras lost one of its most special fans this Tuesday. Bolivian Jesus Mino, who had lived on the club’s premises since the 1970s, died at the age of 86 after a period of hospitalization at Hospital Metropolitano.

There is a kind of legend surrounding Jesus. He started at Palmeiras as a shoe shiner and, no one knows exactly how, ended up living inside the club. In recent years, he had been living in one of the houses maintained by the organization on Padre Antônio Tomás Street, next to the social headquarters.

In August 2014, days before Palmeiras’ centennial, Jesus Mino visited Allianz Parque, still unfinished at the time, at the invitation of Gazeta Esportiva. With the book “My Little Palmeiras Fan” in hand, he got a close look at the modernized stadium of the club he had learned to love.

According to Cesar Maluco, the Bolivian returned to Brazil with the delegation after the team’s tour of Bolivia in the 1970s. “Jesus is still here to this day. It’s hard for a club to have Jesus, right? But Palmeiras does. This one is blessed,” the idol said in an interview recorded in 2013 for the documentary “The Incredible João Gaveta.”

(Photo: Archive/Gazeta Press)

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In August 2014, the folkloric fan already had some difficulty expressing himself, but when asked about Cesar’s version, he called the idol a “joker.” Reserved, Jesus said he had started working at Palmeiras on the recommendation of someone linked to São Geraldo Parish, located at Largo Padre Péricles, in Perdizes.

Beloved by the members of the Football Academy, Jesus also spent time with idol Leivinha. “When we meet, he talks about football. He knows a lot about football. How many years has he been living behind the scenes at Palmeiras? I played here for five years, but he has lived at the club much longer than that,” he said.

With no contact with family members, Jesus never returned to Bolivia, and even those who know Palmeiras’ history best do not know exactly how he came to live on the grounds of the social headquarters. The fact is that the simple Bolivian was taken in by the club and lived with the help of friends and members.

In the last years of his life, no longer with the same vitality, Jesus moved to a nursing home, with the expenses paid by the club. This Wednesday, with his burial, the unlikely and humble relationship between Jesus Mino and Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras will come to an end.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.