who is Mario Ferri, the field invader who entered with an LGBT flag during Portugal-Uruguay?

He raised human rights on the lawn of the World Cup in Qatar: Mario Ferri, the pitch invader, struck again.

Screenshot ©Twitter

Monday evening, the Portugal-Uruguay match (2-0 victory and qualification of the Portuguese) was interrupted for a few moments, a man having entered the field. Rainbow flag in hand (symbol of the LGBTQ+ community), an individual crossed the lawn before being intercepted by security. On his t-shirt, two inscriptions: “Save Ukraine” on and “Respect for Iranian women”.

References related to world news, including the violently repressed demonstrations in Iran since the death of Mahsa Amini, arrested for wearing an illegal veil. It should also be remembered that in Qatar, homosexuality is liable to criminal prosecution.

If the cameras carefully avoided filming the intruder of this Portugal-Uruguay meeting, several photos immortalized the moment, leaving no doubt about his identity: it is Mario Ferri, nicknamed “Il Falco” (” the Falcon “). The man is not at his first attempt. Since 2007, “Il Falco”, (“The Falcon”) has taken to invading football fields, always wearing his Superman jersey.

He has already crossed paths with the Red Devils

In 2010 in South Africa, he made himself known to the whole world by interrupting the semi-final between Spain and Germany. In 2011, he was invited to the Champions League final, even managing to drop an AC Milan scarf around the blow of Barcelona’s master player, Lionel Messi.

He even crossed paths with the Red Devils in their round of 16 against the United States at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. A land invasion accompanied by another political message: “Save the children of the Favelas”.

He does not hesitate to wet the jersey

The one who is also a footballer in the Indian second division does not hesitate to wet the jersey when it comes to defending his convictions. In March, it transported Ukrainian refugees to Poland.

“In India, where I play, it’s the championship break. A Ukrainian friend called me and just like that, instead of spending hours in front of the TV or the computer, I decided to leavehe told La Gazzetta dello Sport (remarks relayed by Eurosport). I made myself available to the volunteers of Leopoli, a group of young people who are all under 25 and I go back and forth with my car. So far I have secured about ten people [des Ukrainiens fuyant la guerre, ndlr]”.

On his Instagram account (where he has gained more than 22,000 new subscribers since his coup on Monday evening), he regularly testifies to his activity, and is followed by more than 133,000 people.