Celebration in the Vatican: the Pope’s team won the football championship in Argentina

There are many famous football teams in Argentina, for instance River Plate, Racing, Velez Sarsfield and, of course, Boca Juniors. The latter is obviously ‘my’ team, considering that they play in blue and yellow, moreover having once picked those colors from the flag of a Swedish ship entering the harbor of Buenos Aires. But in recent time, the team more often mentioned internationally is San Lorenzo (de Almagro), the team supported by Pope Francis. It should not require much explanation as to why he favors a team named after a sainted third-century Christian martyr.

San Lorenzo has not managed to win the championship in Argentina since 2007, but now it happened again. A team with such a well-connected and powerful supporter should of course have a major advantage. And by playing 0-0 at Velez Sarsfield, they managed to hold off second-placed Lanus who also managed just a draw in the final round. Our congratulations go out to San Lorenzo and all their supporters, including my good friend and successor as PanAmerican referee chief in handball, Miguel Zaworotny, now the Managing Director in the office of the PanAmerican Handball Federation. But how about San Lorenzo also starting a section for handball, perhaps even a women’s team!?