One of the most scaring teams in this championship there is an Italian National Team of Priests-Footballers too is the Spanish “Os chispas”, i.e. "the sparkles". "He is the light and we are just sparkles”, this is the meaning of the name, as explained to Revista Ecclesia by father Luis Pérez, parish priest of Santiago de la Caldas and the coach of the Galitian team (from Ourense). Before starting a match, “Os chispas” say the Lord’s Prayer. “Above all, not to hurt ourselves, because the day after we have to celebrate Mass", specifies a player, father Tomàs, 46 years old. Sometimes we cannot put together all the team: someone has to celebrate a baptism, someone a wedding, someone the nightly Holy Communion. Or sometimes we even lose a “promising football player" because he has to leave on a mission, such as father Isaac Pereiro, who is currently at Jipijapa (Ecuador). The Spanish play on Saturday night and sometimes it happens that "some referee comes to Mass the morning after to see if we really were priests”. For father Tomas Delgado, parish priest of Xinzo de Limia, this passion “is also a way to be present in the football world and show people that we priests are just like anyone else”. In Zagreb, the priests-footballers will be received by the Croatian Minister of Sports, and in the church of Saint Anthony they will celebrate the first common Mass on February 6th.
