Faith, hope and love

12/27/2012 - 03h30

It is one of the most famous quotations from the New Testament, from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians: "And now abideth faith, hope, love. But the greatest is love".

The word "love" is, sometimes, translated as "charity". This is how it is rendered in 1 Corinthians 13:13 in the translation of the English Bible authorized by king James 1st, in 1604, and which was completed and published in 1611.

The Sports Club Corinthians Paulista was named after the London Corinthians Casuals Football Club. Five Paulista railway workers, Anselmo Correa, Antonio Pereira, Carlos Silva, Joaquim Ambrosio and Raphael Perrone, founded the Corinthians Paulista Club, in 1910, following a game in São Paulo played by the London Corinthians Casuals Football Club while touring in São Paulo. The Paulista club has always had a working class passionate following.

On December 16th, 2012, Corinthians Paulista beat the English Chelsea Football Club by 1 x 0 to win the Fifa Club World Cup before 30,000 travelling Paulista fans to Yokohama, Japan.

Corinthians Paulista is famous for its youth system of training and recruitment which offers many Brazilian young football players a way out of poverty. The club is reputed to have 30 million Brazilian fans. It has been housed at the iconic Pacaembu stadium in São Paulo, but a new stadium, the Arena Corinthians, is being constructed with the support of the BNDES, the Odebrecht and the City of São Paulo Development certificates which provide tax incentives. Will open in 2013. Only four of Corinthians Paulista's players are foreigners, among the members of the club's first team.

Chelsea, based at Stamford Bridge, in London, is owned by the Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich. Chelsea has had eight coaches since Abramovich bought the club, in 2003: Claudio Ranieri, Jose Mourinho, Avram Grant, Luiz Felipe Scolari, Guus Hiddink, Carlo Ancelotti, Andre Villas-Boas, Roberto Di Matteo and Rafael Benitez. Its first team squad is equally international with only seven Englishmen among the team's current first roster of players.

Chelsea football is not all "sweetness and light" to be sure. Neither is Corinthians Paulista's for that matter. But the Brazilian Club does provide much "faith, hope and love". Its victory over Chelsea is a very good omen for 2012. And it is a very good omen also for a very happy and successful New Year to you all.