Athletico fans are threatened by criticism of Cuca

fans of Athletico are receiving insults and threats on social media after taking a stance against hiring coach Cuca to lead the team. The attacks, mostly carried out by fake accounts, are going beyond the virtual. Some posts, for example, have urged athletes to be careful during games at the Ligga Arena.

“Since Cuca’s name was revealed, I and other women have been taking a stance against it. And, after the signing was confirmed, these attacks have been intensifying on social media. Somehow, some were veiled, in the sense of ‘I want to see say that in the Arena’, ‘I want to see you have the courage to boo in front of everyone'”, says a fan who asked not to be identified.

“But some girls received more forceful threats. A fake threatened an athlete with rape. She is being advised by our lawyers. This fake said he would find her and rape her in the sector where she watches the games, doing the same as the Cuca did it to the 13-year-old victim”, he reports.

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The same fan, a member of the club for many years, states that Atletico fans are feeling unsafe going to the stadium from now on.

“We are all feeling threatened to go to the stadium, because we feel deprived of the right to demonstrate. My feeling is a lot of fear, anguish, disappointment. I really don’t know what my future will be like as an Athletico fan. I don’t intend to let to be a member, but, at the moment, I don’t feel safe going to the stadium, even with all the security that the club provides, in the sense of cameras, staff, because I’m afraid they’ll recognize me”, says the athlete.

Women have been gaining more and more space in this mostly male environment. And Athletico is a club with a high female attendance at games. In 2023 and 2024, for example, the club promoted exclusive games for women and children, after punishments due to fights in the stands, and broke records.

But the coach’s arrival divided the fans, with even fans who were also in favor of Cuca’s arrival. Freedom of expression is a constitutional right, but it is not what we have been seeing in the virtual space since Sunday (3). Misogyny, with a high degree of debauchery and violence intensified. (see below some messages that Athletico fans received).

Fan was cornered by man inside the Arena after he didn’t like a comment she made

Another Athletico fan, journalist Rhaissa da Silva, has even been cornered and confronted inside the Ligga Arena. The athlete was a member of a Hurricane fans channel on YouTube and was persecuted because a man didn’t like her comments on the program years ago.

“He waited for me when I went to the bathroom. Right in the hallways of the stadium, he cursed me, said I was a shit journalist, that women didn’t have to talk about football, he shouted and said that women had to be in the kitchen. He was full of people and no one did anything, not even the security guards. It was a very difficult situation. And it was the first time I felt vulnerable in the Arena”, he recalls.

“When Cuca came, I was against it. But I deleted my posts because I ended up getting scared. But I received a lot of insults and people telling me to stop being a member”, he laments.

What to do in cases of threats on the internet?

The delegate José Barreto, responsible for the Cybercrime Combat Center (Nuciber), explains what victims should do in cases of threats on social networks. The main thing is to file a police report at a police station. In the case of Furacão fans, Nuciber and Demafe can work together.

“It is important that these victims come to the police station to file a police report. That they gather all the evidence, take a printout of everything, because the perpetrators can delete the messages. Get the phone number, if the crime is in Whatsapp, the profile photo, the messages, the audios and then it will be heard. Then we will begin the investigations. Threat is a crime of public criminal action, subject to representation. In other words, we can only start an investigation after the victim goes to the police station”, explains the delegate.

“If they are fake profiles that are threatening, they can look for Nuciber. If these profiles are of people they know, the report can be made at the police district in the region. Today, the crime of threat can result in six months in prison. Nuciber has had satisfactory responses in this type of investigation, even in cases of fake profiles. Criminals create these profiles, thinking that the police won’t arrive, but we did. People still believe that there is impunity on the internet and we have been proving that that’s not true. Respect is needed on social media”, adds Barreto.

The Berna case and Cuca’s situation

The case cited by Cuca is the 1989 conviction, in Bern, Switzerland, at the time he was a player. Two years earlier, on a Grêmio tour across the country, he and three other athletes (Eduardo Hamester, Henrique Etges and Fernando Castoldi) were accused of sexual acts with a minor and coercion of a 13-year-old girl who was visiting the delegation’s hotel.

They were detained for almost 30 days and returned to Brazil after statements. In 1989, in a trial without the players present, they were sentenced to 15 months in prison, in addition to paying US$8,000. Only Fernando was acquitted of the charge, but was sentenced to three months in prison for being an accomplice to the crime.

The process was under 110-year secrecy, protected by Swiss data protection law. in a report from Uol SportIn April, the victim’s lawyer denied Cuca’s claims that he had not been recognized as one of the attackers.

In May, ge.com revealed an excerpt from the process that said there was a report proving that Cuca’s semen was identified in the body of Sandra, the victim. After that, Cuca’s defense asked for the case to be reopened and a new trial, claiming that the former player had been convicted in absentia. The request was accepted in November and the 1989 judgment annulled on December 28, 2023.