EXETER CITY fans may soon find that they need to update the classic terrace salute to samba football, “It’s just like watching Brazil”. If negotiations are successful, this summer they really will be. In 1914, Exeter were the first team to play the newly formed Brazil national team. Ninety years on, plans are afoot for a rematch.

“The whole place has been gripped by the possibility that we might be playing Brazil,” Ian Huxham, the Exeter managing director, said. “The Brazilian authorities are equally aware of their history as we are of ours. We have been asked to put a date aside provisionally: July 21.”

Nike is said to be producing a new away strip for Brazil that is modelled on the kit worn in that first game 90 years ago. This has sparked murmurs in the media in Rio de Janeiro that a commemorative fixture against Exeter would also be an appropriate way to mark the milestone.

The Nationwide Conference club, relegated from the Nationwide League last season, financially crippled and in the midst of fighting a 12-point penalty for going into administration, require sponsorship if the trip to Rio is to become reality. They hope that Nike will help out.

Exeter lost 2-0 in Rio in July 1914 in front of 10,000 spectators, whose excitement was reported in the Brazilian press to be “simply indescribable”. The Englishmen’s tour had not begun well — in a cultural misunderstanding, the squad was arrested on a beach for indecent exposure — but they managed a 3-3 draw in a second match.

A return fixture in Devon has also been mooted. Eighteen months ago, incredulous locals watched as Michael Jackson and David Blaine appeared at a concert at the ground. The club would now love the likes of Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos to grace their less-than-hallowed turf.

“In our centenary year we’d like to get a big team to St James’ Park and we’d like it to be Brazil,” Huxham said. “We were able to assist in the (origins) of the game in Brazil and they could help to save the future of professional football in Exeter by appearing in a sell-out game.”

One suggestion is that the South Americans could stop over during their trip to play France in May; another is that their Olympic squad might play a warm-up en route to Athens this summer. It is unclear what calibre of team Brazil would deploy if the plans come to fruition.

Last month Rio’s leading newspaper jested that, given the contrasting fortunes experienced by Exeter (winners of the 1934 third division South Cup) and Brazil (five times World Cup winners) since 1914, their under-17 side might be the best opposition.

Ronaldo is already at Exeter, albeit symbolically: a Brazil shirt signed by the Real Madrid forward hangs in the boardroom. For the moment, supporters keen to sample “futebol” first-hand have to make do with the presence of Santos Gaia, the club’s little-known Brazilian defender.

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