Football World Cup: English announcement from World Cup referee becomes internet hit in Brazil

The trigger was the declaration of a red card against South Africa’s Themba Zwane for an alleged assault after a review by the video assistant. His strong Brazilian accent and the wording of the announcement caused numerous reactions.

Sampaio said attacker number 11 committed a serious foul and hit the defender in the face; That’s why there is a direct free kick and a red card. In the original he said: “After review, attacker number 11 commit serious foul play, and arm direct the face the defender. Decision: direct free kick, red card.”

Some users were reminded of former trainer Joel Santana, who achieved cult status in Brazil because of his distinctive English pronunciation. Others drew parallels to a much-noticed English-language appearance by former President Jair Bolsonaro in 2025. Images of South African players who appeared visibly irritated during the announcement were particularly widely shared.

According to linguistics researcher Glauco Souza from the Catholic University of São Paulo, quoted by the news portal “G1”, the communication problems can be attributed to several factors. In addition to the pronunciation of the letter “R” in words such as “review”, “attacker” and “number”, the stadium acoustics with audible echoes also played a role.

Brazil’s online community reacts quickly

The reactions once again show the enormous activity of the Brazilian online community. Political appearances, football games or television events in the South American country are regularly transformed into memes, parodies and viral posts within a short period of time.

However, Sampaio was not only the focus of attention in the opening game because of his English announcement. The Brazilian showed three reds as the co-hosts made it 2-0 – something that had never happened before in a World Cup opening game.