Most teams leave the locker room before a game hoping to go out and get a win, but Brazilian soccer club Íbis Sport Club isn’t your run-of-the-mill squad. The sixth-tier side is widely recognized as “the worst football club in the world,” a dubious honor that was certified by the Guinness Book of World Records back in 2008.
How futile is the Paulista-based side? Íbis went a stretch of four years–between 1980 and 1984–without winning a single game. Losing is embedded into their club’s very fabric; they even advertise their losses proudly on social media. To say Íbis is shying away from their claim to fame would be dishonest; they embrace the massive amount of Ls they’re catching on a regular basis.
It should come as no surprise, then, that the club’s fanbase went apoplectic after Íbis rattled off three straight wins recently. The beleaguered side was victorious in Campeonato Pernambucano matches against Vera Cruz (by the score of 1-0), Cabense (2-1), and Ferroviário (1-0). Fans couldn’t believe their eyes: for the first time since 1997, Íbis won three consecutive games.
As they saw their status as the worst football club in the world hanging in the balance, with fear that they’d end up just another bad team with nothing special to offer in the back of their minds, fans took to social media to call for the coach’s job, and to plead for Íbis to get back to their losing ways. Some fans even took it as far as showing up and protesting on the streets with signs in hand to show their displeasure.
Whatever happens next seems like a win-win situation. Either Íbis comes out Sunday against Centro Limoeirense and wins their fourth consecutive to stay hot–they are currently first in Group A of the championship–or they lose and restore order for their fans and supporters. No matter the outcome, someone will end up happy.