São Paulo's first trip to France | OneFootball

On a day featuring France and Iraq in a 2026 World Cup match, the Historical Archive brings the story of the first time a São Paulo team set foot on French soil (since, unfortunately, the team has never been to Iraq). That inaugural visit came in 1964, during the famous unbeaten tour of the Furacão Tricolor, which earned the Tricolor the Blue Ribbon.

Diário Popular, 7/2/1964.

São Paulo had been on European soil since early May, having first visited Dukla Praha, from what was then Czechoslovakia (and won 2-0). The team had also already been to Dortmund, where it beat Borussia 3-1. It was time, then, to take on the French.

The first clash in France would be against the Northern Football League selection (Ligue du Nord) — drawing a parallel with Brazil, it was something like a local state federation team — on May 20, in Lens. The opponent was made up basically of players from Union Sportive Valenciennes-Anzin and Racing Club de Lens, the two main clubs in the region at the time.

From the very first moment, it was all São Paulo, with center forward Del Vecchio tormenting the local defenders. In just the fourth minute, he received the ball from Bazzaninho and hit it across goal to score the Tricolor’s first. Three minutes later, this time with a precise header, the striker grabbed another and doubled the lead.

The third goal came from another play by Del Vecchio, in the 21st minute, with a shot from around twenty meters out, probably deflected by Valdir Birigüi. Still in the first half, Masnaghetti scored the home side’s consolation goal. The final 90 minutes were merely to run out the clock.

Despite what was reported by Brazilian newspapers, the third goal in this match was in fact Valdir’s.

From northern France, the tour moved on to nearby Brussels, where the São Paulo side drew 0-0 with a very strong Anderlecht team that featured seven players from the Belgian national team which, one year earlier, had humiliated Brazil with a crushing 5-1 win there in the Belgian capital. And São Paulo nearly won it too, as Valdir hit the post...

The delegation then returned aboard a Sabena Convair to Paris, and from there the group took a train to the far south, where, on the Côte d’Azur, they stayed in Le Grau-du-Roi, a seaside village near Nîmes. And, after a training session at that city’s municipal stadium, a curious and unfortunate incident took place: the team bus went over a large hole in the road and the vehicle’s luggage compartment opened without anyone noticing. When they arrived at the hotel, came the surprise: a large suitcase had disappeared — probably thrown out onto the road by some jolt.

In the May 26, 1964 edition of the local newspaper Midi Libre, the following notice was published: “A suitcase weighing 20 to 25 kilos, containing cups, trophies and other mementos received by the Brazilian select team during its European tour, fell from the bus that was taking the São Paulo team to train at the Municipal Stadium in Nîmes. Whoever finds the item in question on National Highway 113, between Nîmes and Le Grau-du-Roi, will be doing our guests a great service by taking it to the headquarters of Nîmes Olympique”.

Of course, the suitcase was never found and the trophies — whose records remain unknown to this day — were never recovered.

Only five or six thousand people showed up at Stade Jean Bouin to watch São Paulo face Nîmes Olympique on the afternoon of May 26. The blame lay with the heavy rains that fell over the region before, during, and after the match. Despite the adverse setting, the Tricolor had no trouble beating the French side, which had been reinforced by two players from Toulouse and one from Monaco. 3-0, with goals by Del Vecchio and Pagão in the first half, and Prado late in the second.

The sad note was Benê’s serious injury. In a move in which he exchanged passes with Marco Antônio, the attacking midfielder was hit hard on the right leg by the French team’s center back. At the hospital, it was confirmed that the player had fractured the fibula in his right leg. He would end up unable to continue the tour with the delegation and was forced to return to Brazil on May 30.

Despite the regrettable incident, relaxation and good humor reigned among the players. They never missed a chance to have fun at the expense of the country boys Valdir and Sudaco, who had strong rural accents. When a car cut off the group’s bus on one occasion in Paris, everyone burst out laughing when they heard Birigüi shout at the European driver: “Can’t you see, ya old clown?”

Sudaco, however, was the favorite target. At a dinner where oysters were served, the inexperienced young man, unfamiliar with such fancy food, was caught off guard. When asked whether the dish was good, he replied: “I only ate one, because it was way too tough, I almost broke a tooth!”

Restless as ever, the Tricolors soon left France once again and went to face Germany’s Karlsruher, in Karlsruhe, on that same May 30. The story of that match is for another time, but São Paulo won yet again, 2-0 (with two more goals from Del Vecchio).

From the Rhine, the delegation would return to northern France, as they had arranged a “rematch” with Valenciennes-Anzin. On the road back, shortly after crossing the border with Belgium, an unexpected problem came up: the bus broke down. The driver even tried to fix it right there, but it didn’t work. They went to one garage, then another... and time kept passing.

“I left Noroeste so I wouldn’t have to travel by bus anymore, and here I am, in the Belgian countryside, stuck with the same problems I had in Bauru”, Leal remarked, to everyone’s amusement.

After much weariness, and of course a lot of rain, everything was sorted out and, on June 3, the Tricolors were ready and able for another clash. With a full house, no reinforcements from other teams, a more cohesive side, and all the support of French referee Dhumerelle, Valenciennes were good enough to force a draw against the Tricolor, achieved in the second half: 1-1, with the Brazilian goal scored by Bazzaninho from a free kick in the first half.

As the challenges went by and the unbeaten run grew, São Paulo’s tour drew more and more attention wherever it went. So it came as no surprise to see Parc Lescure, in Bordeaux, packed with more than 30,000 people to welcome the Brazilians on June 13 for a match against the home favorite, Girondins de Bordeaux.

Perhaps the atmosphere raised the local team’s expectations too much, because they began the match dishing out kicks and hacks, while the referee turned a blind eye, after Prado opened the scoring in the very first minute. The São Paulo players did not take it lightly and quickly hit back, both physically and technically, and in the 25th minute they scored again, this time through Del Vecchio. Bordeaux did pull one back in the first half and pushed hard for the equalizer in the second, but that was as far as they got.

Another São Paulo victory: 2-1. Thus, the club left France with three wins and one draw. And the tour remained unbeaten... And so it would stay until the return to Brazil at the end of June.

NORTHERN LEAGUE 1 x 3 SÃO PAULO05/20/1964. International Friendly: Single Match.Lens (France), Stade Félix-Bollaert.

SPFC: Suly; De Sordi, Bellini and Riberto; Sudaco and Jurandir; Faustino, Benê, Del Vecchio, Bazzaninho and Valdir Birigüi. COACH: Oto Vieira. GOALS: Del Vecchio, 4/1; Del Vecchio, 7/1; Valdir Birigüi, 21/1.

OPPONENT: Joseph Magiera (Marcelin Dobat); Enzo Zamparini, Bernard Placzek, Louis Provelli and Wolfgang Matzky; Marc Bourrier and Bolec Kocik; Jean-Pierre Guinot, Ahmed Oudjani, Serge Masnaghetti and Guy Guillon. COACHES: Robert Domergue (Valenciennes) and Élie Fruchart (Lens). GOAL: Serge Masnaghetti, 37/1.

REFEREE: Carette (France). ATTENDANCE: ~30,000

NÎMES OLYMPIQUE 0 x 3 SÃO PAULO05/26/1964. International Friendly: Single Match.Nîmes (France), Stade Jean Bouin.

SPFC: Suly (Gilberto); De Sordi, Bellini and Riberto (Virgílio); Sudaco and Jurandir; Faustino, Marco Antônio, Del Vecchio (Prado), Benê (Pagão, 32/1) and Valdir Birigüi. COACH: Oto Vieira. GOALS: Del Vecchio, 36/1; Pagão, 44/1; Prado, 40/2.

OPPONENT: Louis Landi; Charles Poirier, Carlos Monín García, Jacky Novi and Pierre Barlaguet; Abdelhamid Zouba and Salah Djebaili; Paul Chillan, José Del Rosário Parodi Rojas, Hassan Akesbi and Samuel Edimo N’Ganga. COACH: Pierre Pibarot.

REFEREE: Barberau (France). ATTENDANCE: ~5,000

VALENCIENNES-ANZIN 1 x 1 SÃO PAULO06/03/1964. International Friendly: Single Match.Valenciennes (France), Stade Nungesser.

SPFC: Suly; De Sordi, Bellini and Riberto; Leal and Virgílio; Faustino, Pagão (Marco Antônio), Del Vecchio, Bazzaninho and Valdir Birigüi. COACH: Oto Vieira. GOAL: Bazzaninho (free kick), 20/1.

OPPONENT: Yvon Clément; Patrice Mayet, Jean-Claude Piumi, Louis Provelli and Wolfgang Matzky; Joseph Bonnel and Bolec Kocik; Guy Guillon, Étienne Sansonetti, Serge Masnaghetti and Serge Breuvart. COACH: Robert Domergue. GOAL: Bolec Kocik, 22/2.

REFEREE: Dhumerelle (France). ATTENDANCE: ~20,000.

BORDEAUX 1 x 2 SÃO PAULO06/13/1964. International Friendly: Single Match.Bordeaux (France), Stade Parc Lescure.

SPFC: Suly; De Sordi, Bellini, Jurandir (Virgílio, 30/2) and Riberto; Sudaco and Bazzaninho; Faustino (Nondas, 40/2), Prado, Del Vecchio and Valdir Birigüi. COACH: Oto Vieira. GOALS: Prado, 1/1; Del Vecchio, 25/1.

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