Visiting the Brazilian 'varzea' teams who take their name and inspiration from Arsenal

São Paulo – On a cracked, sun-baked pitch wedged between a hillside favela and a tangle of Atlantic forest, two amateur sides named Arsenal line up for kick-off. Dragonflies hover above the touchline, kite strings glint with powdered glass, and barbecue smoke drifts through blue-and-white flare haze. This is varzea, Brazil’s rawest form of football, and on this afternoon it is also an Arsenal derby.

Arsenal Guarulhos and Arsenal Jacana – the latter nicknamed Arsenal Raiz, “roots” – are two of at least eight São Paulo amateur clubs that borrowed their identity from north London. They wear the cannon on their chests, study the Invincibles’ DVDs and cite Gilberto Silva, the 2003-04 Premier League champion, as their spiritual reference. On Sunday they meet again, months after both qualified to play inside the real Emirates Stadium in a tournament staged by Dirt Is Good and Arsenal.

The road to London began with the Varzenal, a 2025 knockout competition for every local “Arsenal” willing to believe the prize was not a hoax. Eight teams entered: Jacana, Guarulhos, Aclimação, Cid Tiradentes, Jardim Senice, Vila Suíça, EG and Ipiranga. Each carries the club’s name for a different reason – the cannon’s power, the supporters’ passion, the memories of Gilberto and, as Ian Wright notes, “the Arsène Wenger era that took our football around the world.”

Jacana coach Neguinho admits he laughed when the invitation arrived. “When I played as a kid my dream was to play in England. Now my team could do it.” Guarulhos director Garrafa adds: “We told parents we were flying to Arsenal. Mothers thought it was a prank.”

Both teams survived the Varzenal and, in May 2025, 23 players boarded their first international flight. Gilberto and Wright walked them out at the Emirates; Gabriel Martinelli, raised in Guarulhos, greeted them; Bukayo Saka sent a good-luck video. The match was streamed live to Jacana and Guarulhos, where streets emptied and screens were erected. “It was our World Cup final,” Garrafa says.

Striker Ronaldo Henrique, who lost two toes in a 2021 motorcycle accident, scored a looping lob with his injured right foot and collected man-of-the-match honours from Gilberto. “I was told I might never run properly. Five months later I was playing. That day in London was the best of my life.”

Back in São Paulo for the rematch, Jacana claim a 2-0 win. Players embrace, medals are presented and a communal barbecue follows. The teams have become local celebrities. “Everywhere we go people recognise us,” laughs Guarulhos coach Rony. “They know we are the team that went to London.”

Gilberto, watching from the touchline, sees a mirror of his own beginnings in Lagoa da Prata. “Varzea is where I started. Football gave my family a better life. These teams show the same dream can live in São Paulo.”

Wright, raised on south-London grassroots pitches, agrees. “Grassroots gave me purpose when nothing else did. Seeing these lads represent their communities at the Emirates proves the game’s power stretches farther than any stadium lights.”

The varzea Arsenals may never lift the Premier League, but on the flood plain they have already won something priceless: the certainty that their second skin, the shirt with the cannon, matters well beyond Brazil’s borders.