Football team changes sponsor and shirt names to honour front line workers

Portuguese football club Porto changed the sponsorship and names on their shirts to honour medical workers in their home country.

It was the first round of fixtures to be played in Portugal’s top flight, the Primeira Liga, since it was paused due to the coronavirus pandemic on March 8.

To reflect the actions of frontline workers, the team’s sponsor – the beer brand Super Bock – changed their own logo to read “SUPER DOC” across the shoulders.

Underneath, each player’s name, rather than be printed on, was written by hand by a teammate to mirror they way in which medical professionals have been writing their own names on PPE equipment so that they can better identified by colleagues and patients.

The club is one of the biggest and most successful in the country and the initiative was launched on their social media ahead of their game with FC Famalicão.

The team resumed the 2019/20 season top of the table but lost their first game back 2-1.

The gesture echoes that of Spanish club Valencia, who had the names on their shirts written in Nepali after the earthquake in Nepal in 2015.

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