Northern Ireland🔴🤚☘️Footballers⚽️At Brazilian Clubs
“We’re not Brazil, we’re Northern Ireland” – Stewart McAfee (and the GAWA).
In this series, we look at Northern Irish footballers playing outside the UK and Ireland, in countries like Hong Kong, South Korea, Spain, Germany, France, Italy, Brazil, Greece etc. This post looks at 5 times World Cup winners Brazil.
Apart from a brace of GAWA songs being belted out, namely “We’re Not Brazil, We’re Northern Ireland” and “It’s just like watching Brazil”, there are really not many football links down the years between Northern Ireland and Brazil. I found only 4 matches between the two countries at all levels in both genders since football began!! Of course we all know about the famous 1986 World Cup match in Mexico, but we also played them thrice in the Milk Cup, or so it appears since details online are sketchy.
3-0 Northern Ireland
12 June 1986
Ian Stewart had the ball at his feet when the final whistle blew and Northern Ireland bowed out, finished in third place on goals scored above Algeria. One more goal against either Spain or Algeria would have seen us go through ahead of Uruguay who had a minus 5 goal difference, but 2 points.
Northern Irelandvs Brazil – Youth Level (Milk Cup / SuperCupNI)
2003 – Elite Section (U19)
Result: Brazil won
Context: Brazil’s U19s participated in the Elite section and defeated Northern Ireland during the tournament.
Notable Players: Brazil’s squad included future stars like Marcelo and Anderson.
2004 – Elite Section (U19)
Result: Brazil won again
Context: Brazil returned with another strong youth team and beat Northern Ireland in the Elite section.
Tournament Outcome: Brazil won the Elite section that year.
2005 – Elite Section (U19)
Result: Northern Ireland won
Score: Northern Ireland 2–1 Brazil
Significance: A famous youth-level victory for Northern Ireland over Brazil.
Venue: Coleraine Showgrounds
Players: Northern Ireland’s team featured several future senior internationals.
And so, as of 2025, the ONLY Northern Irish footballer to play for a Brazilian club was Jamal Lewis, who played 6 matches only for Sao Paolo in 2024-2025 season, on loan from Newcastle United!
1.Jamal Lewis
Brazilian clubs he was at – Sao Paolo.
Other clubs he was at – Luton Town, Norwich City, Newcastle United, Watford.
Northern Ireland caps – Under 19 – 3 caps, Under 21 – 1 cap, Full level – 39 caps.
Claim to fame – Jamal Lewis was the first UK player to play for Sao Paolo and the first Northern Ireland international to play for a Brazilian club.
Jamal Lewis may not have lit up Windsor Park just yet, despite amassing 39 caps (2 more than George Best) in a 6 year period, but he has done something that no other Northern Ireland international has done! He has played club football in Brazil. In doing so, he was the first Northern Irishman to play for a Brazilian club and the first player from the UK to play for Sao Paolo!
Jamal only played 6 matches for Sao Paolo and then got injured sadly and returned to Newcastle United. He also had a spell at Watford wearing yellow again! His contract at Newcastle United ended in 2025. He has already scored in the Premier League and FA Cup for Norwich City. Let’s see what the future holds for Jamal.
And just for fun, there is a number 2 – a Red Herring of course…
2.Ryan-Zico Black.
Brazilian Clubs he was at – None.
Link to Brazil part 1 – He is named after Brazilian footballer Zico!
Link to Brazil part 2 – He played, and SCORED in the Maracana Stadium in Rio De Janeiro!
Northern Ireland caps – Under 18 – 1, Under 21 – 2.
Guernsey caps – 6 caps, 2 goals.
Claim to fame – As Jamal Lewis didn’t score, Ryan-Zico appears to be the only Northern Ireland international to score in Brazil!
Ryan-Zico Black is a wild one. The footballer who was capped by two different countries, was at clubs in 5 countries (2 of whom have won the World Cup – Spain and England), scored at the Maracana in Brazil, played for Gazza (in fact was Gazza’s first signing at Kettering Town), played on the same pitch as his namesake Zico and has a Da from Belfast with a link to Bobby Sands! He also played for the Guernsey club team as well as the Guernsey national team! Ryan-Zico now runs a football academy in Guernsey and also released a book called I am sure if Ryan-Zico Black had been asked by a Brazilian club to join them, he would have gone!
