Azeri Colossus bestrides Budapest

There were plenty of stars in the UEFA European Futsal Championship group stage games in Budapest, but when it comes to capturing the public imagination, one stood above all others: Serjão.

'Big Sergio'
The 30-year-old, Brazilian-born Azerbaijan star has scored twice at the finals: a goal in each game, and has been besieged by autograph-hunters after each of his appearances. Partly because he is a great player, sure, but also because he really doesn't look like a footballer. There is certainly a lot of Serjão (in Portuguese, 'Big Sergio') to love.

Pivotal role
"There are just a few pivots in futsal like Betão from Brazil, Cirilo from Russia and Fernandao from Spain... Oh, I forgot to mention myself!" the cheery Serjão told uefa.com. "Everybody thinks we're lazy and not very fast, but I can always accelerate for 40 metres. Let everybody think I am big and slow; that's alright with me."

Azeri at heart
Bearing the name 'Sergio' on his shirt, apparently because 'ã' letters cannot be found for love or money in Baku, Serjão is loving his time in Hungary. "I am in the best of moods," he said. "This is my first European championship. I was born in Brazil, but emotionally I am with Azerbaijan. I really put my heart into our common cause."

Odd bunch
Finals debutants Azerbaijan, who play Ukraine in the last eight on Monday in Budapest, are certainly an odd-looking bunch: they boast the tournament's oldest player, 42-year-old goalkeeper Andrey Tveryankin, long-haired ethnic Brazilians Thiago and Biro Jade, a smattering of ethnic Russians and a few Azeris too, not least the excellent Rizvan Farzaliyev. Odd-looking but effective, including a club level where most of them, including Serjão , have helped Araz Naxçivan to April's UEFA Futsal Cup finals.

Outside bets
"We played Portugal before out of top teams and drew 3-3," explained Serjão as he looked ahead. "I think this was the real stuff. Yeah, there are favourites but it's all about who does better on the pitch on a given night. Let Italy, Spain and Russia be the favourites while Azerbaijan, who nobody can see or notice, keep going up a gear."

Lingua franca
Their multi-ethnic side have their critics; Azeri journalists were up in arms when they (mistakenly) thought Czech Republic coach Tomáš Neumann had referred to them as 'Brazerbaijan' in a press conference. But that is not an issue for Serjão and friends, whose lingua franca is Russian, given that so many of them have played club futsal in Russia.

Goalscoring sacrifice
Serjão, meanwhile, is even happy to forego further goals if it means getting to the semi-finals and – whisper it – even the final. "I am a pivot so I am meant to score goals, but the main thing for us is not goals," he said. "The most important thing is to win. Let Serjão not score and not make an assist; let anyone score, provided we win!"