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Palmeiras vs. Botafogo at Lincoln Financial Field Will Make the Flares from the Other Day Look Like Amateur Hour
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As you’re probably aware, Lincoln Financial Field is one of the venues hosting the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.
There’s a game tonight, Tuesday, between Chelsea and Esperance, then Real Madrid plays Salzburg on Thursday night.
Saturday’s game is a Round of 16 banger between Brazilian teams Botafogo and Palmeiras, and at Ticketmaster the get-in price is about $115 about 12 hours after the opponents were set:
If you don’t know or don’t care, Palmeiras and Botafogo are two of Brazil’s biggest teams. Both have had great fan representation during the group games in this tournament. This isn’t a classic rivalry between local sides (Palmeiras is in Sao Paulo and Botafogo is in Rio), but recently both teams have been very good, Botafogo for instance winning the league in 2024 with Palmeiras finishing second. Botafogo also beat Palmeiras in the 2024 Copa Libertadores, which is basically the South American Champions League.
But yeah, the two fan bases have been excellent so far, now you put them together in the same stadium with some recent history to drive interest. There are large swaths of Brazilian expats along the Northeast corridor, from north Jersey up into Boston. If you want to play the six degrees of separation game, it’s pretty funny, the Super Bowl-champion Philadelphia Eagles started their season in Brazil’s Neo Quimica Arena. Neo Quimica’s home team is Corinthians. Corinthians’ biggest rival is Palmeiras. Palmeiras is now playing a knockout round game at the Club World Cup at Lincoln Financial Field. Lincoln Financial Field is the home of… the Philadelphia Eagles.
Should be a fun game, likely a sell out. Those flares the Moroccan fans set off the other day? This will make that look like amateur hour. Should be a great atmosphere, just as good as anything.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com