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Brazil is the “Country of Football", but not only local clubs and European giants make the fans hearts beat. Jefferson Bachega, a 25-year-old Brazilian journalist, has been a loyal follower of Watford F.C. since 2007, when he first encountered the club while playing a video game, attracted by the striking crest and team´s bright yellow shirts.

Since then, Jefferson´s love for the Hornets has only grown; he started to play exclusively with the English side, with the likes of Ashley Young Hameur Bouazza quickly becoming his favourite players.

With limited access to the internet and cable TV, it was not until 2013 that Jefferson had the chance to watch the Hornets closely, when the team starred in an epic clash with Leicester City, which saw Troy Deeney's dramatic last-minute goal sent Watford to Wembley for the Championship play-off final.

“I didn’t see that match against Leicester because we did not have cable, but it made an instant impact on my relationship with the club. The scene of the fans invading the pitch and the commentator screaming his lungs out is still my fondest memory of football, and one of the most iconic moments, in my opinion."

“Watford´s Brazilian fanbase has a little bit of everything, from small chat rooms and Facebook groups to an official verified Twitter account created by a supporter” - Jefferson.

The small but fanatic group of supporters use these channels to discuss everything about the club, from match line-ups and formations to transfer rumours, the mascot, custom stickers for their favourite players, and even the mascot.

Asked why he thinks Watford are so special, Jefferson cited the laid-back fans and the stadium atmosphere as some of the key factors that have seen him develop such a strong bond to the club. As a PR Agent for Londrina Esporte Clube (the main football team from his hometown), he is also inspired by Watford´s social media accounts, which show behind-the-scenes clips of training sessions and interactions between players and fans.

“I love how they show the players day-to-day on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. I think it´s a cool way to approach your overseas fanbase, just like they did with João Pedro when he first arrived at Watford, with all the interaction with the squad, especially Gomes. I really enjoy this kind of content and I try to incorporate it into my work with Londrina."

Jefferson is yet to have had the opportunity to actually visit Watford or the Vicarage Road stadium, but displayed some of his vast knowledge of the club by talking about the Sir Elton John Stand and the history of the musician as president of the club during Graham Taylor´s reign as manager.

A lot of his friends and family don´t even know who Watford are and are often confused by the fact that he supports a foreign team. Fortunately, he does have some colleagues who are also fans of teams outside England's 'Big Six', such as Nottingham Forest and Leeds United.

“Here in Brazil, people don´t really know much about a lot of European clubs, aside from the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester United. It´s always a challenge to introduce Watford to my friends and family, and explain how I ended up liking the club so much.”

Another problem is the short supply of team-related items like shirts, flags and other memorabilia. As well as being extremely rare, they are quite expensive in Brazil.

“Living in a relatively small town like Londrina, I´ve never seen any Watford items for sale. Sometimes fans from our community travel to England and bring jerseys and other cool pieces back, but the exchange rate is high."

Idolised by the fans for that legendary goal against Leicester, Deeney is Jefferson´s favourite player. “He´s our captain, an icon. He is tall, strong and a real fighter,” Jefferson says. The Brazilian also cites other players, such as Gerard Deulofeu (who he calls Deuslofeu, a play on the word Deus, which means God in Portuguese), the French midfielder Abdoulaye Doucuré and, of course, his countryman Gomes.

In addition to the 2013 match against Leicester, another moment that lives long in Jefferson's memory as a Watford fan was the heroic win against Wolves in the 2019 FA Cup semi-final. Watford came back from 2-0 down to win 3-2. Jefferson actually followed all the goals through a WhatsApp chat, as his internet connection failed during the game.

“I was trying to stream the match, but the connection kept falling. I ended up following the score on the Watford Brazil chat, where the members were posting updates on the game. That´s how I learned about the goals we scored."

And the video games that initially sparked Jefferson's love affair with Watford still play a major role in his support of the club. He of course plays FIFA´s Career Mode as Watford, who he managed to lead for an impressive 10 seasons, winning the UEFA Champions League twice.

In a quick match of FIFA 20 against Watford´s biggest rivals, Luton Town, Jefferson showed some serious tactical knowledge, creating a custom formation for the team and using his favourite players in an attacking 4-5-1.

He also plays the Premier League´s Fantasy Football game with his friends, always trying to fit some of the Hornets players in his squad. “Sometimes my friends will make fun of me, saying some player from Watford ruined their weekly score on EPL Fantasy, but they´re just taunting me."

Brazil may well be the Country of Football, but this Brazilian's footballing heart lies in another.

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