Internacional midfielder Thiago Maia received the Fair Play award given by FIFA during The Best ceremony this Tuesday (17), for his voluntary role in rescuing flood victims in Rio Grande do Sul.
Images of the player climbing onto roofs, jumping over fences and throwing himself into the water to help the islanders in Porto Alegre and the metropolitan region of the city went viral on social media at the time.
The tragedy left 183 dead, 806 injured and 27 missing. In total, 2.4 million people were affected, with a peak of 581,633 people displaced.
The most striking record was the moment in which the player appears with his body covered up to his chest in water, carrying retired Evair Gomes Carneiro, 71, on his back.
The elderly woman lived on the tenth floor of a building in the Humaitá neighborhood, in the north of the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, and was unable to contact her family to ask for ransom.
Of the 125 residents of the same condominium, only she and four others were still there without water, electricity and gas for days until volunteers intervened.
Maia managed to access the first floor of the building and carried her to one of the lifeboats. Interestingly, she didn’t even know who the Inter player was.
The honor has been awarded by the entity annually, since 1987, to athletes, coaches, teams, referees or fans in recognition of honorable behavior, on or off the field.
According to FIFA, the selection of the winner is made “by an expert panel representing FIFA” and by “external football stakeholders”.
In the last award, in which Argentine Lionel Messi was voted the best in the world, the Brazilian football team was chosen for Fair Play for their performance in a black uniform in the first half of a game against Guinea, days after Vinicius Júnior was the target of racial offenses in Spain.
Thiago Maia was not the only athlete among clubs in the state to mobilize to help victims. Within the team itself, teammates such as Uruguayan goalkeeper Sergio Rochet and Argentine defender Gabriel Mercado also helped volunteers distribute food and personal hygiene products. Grêmio athletes also helped with the work.
On the 9th, during the Mesa Redonda Trophy awards ceremony, promoted by Gazeta Esportiva for the best in the Brasileirão, Thiago Maia and Dona Evair met again for the first time.
“That day was very special because three people had tried to rescue her and she couldn’t due to the difficulty of access. And I said: ‘only leave here when you are inside this boat’. The only way was to jump over a wire fence and go into the water. In the end everything worked out”, said the player.
Heavy rain in the state began on April 27, in Santa Cruz do Sul, and spread across more than 470 municipalities, overloading the Taquari, Caí, Pardo, Jacuí, Sinos and Gravataí river basins, which overflowed.
Among the victims are people who suffered from landslides or were swept away by the rain.
Thiago Maia arrived at the Rio Grande do Sul club on loan from Flamengo in March, as the tenth reinforcement for the season that was just starting.
In July, Inter agreed to permanently purchase the player, with a contract until December 2026. The cost of the operation was 4 million euros (R$ 24.1 million at the price at the time).
The award ceremony taking place in Doha, Qatar, honored fellow Brazilian Vinicius Júnior as the best player in the world. It is the first time that a Brazilian has won the award since 2007, when Kaká was awarded the trophy.
