Corinthians offer fans chance to go to football heaven

Brazilian club Corinthians plan to open a cemetery that will allow fans to be buried alongside their favourite players.

Corinthians have revealed plans to construct a cemetery in which fans can purchase plots and be buried alongside their favourite players. Titled 'The Corinthians Forever Cemetery', the project will house 70,000 burial places upon completion and the club is marketing the cemetery as: 'For those who are fans from the beginning to the end'. The São Paulo club have already began construction on a site on the city's outskirts and expect the project to be finished by next summer, with the first burial at the end of 2015. The site will be divided into three areas based on the different prices, with the more expensive plots nearer the centre of the cemetery, close to a planned full-size replica of a football stadium. The São Paulo club are the second most supported team in Brazil, with around 25 million fans, and, according to Forbes, are the most valuable football team outside Europe. The Brazilian club are, surprisingly, not the first club to undertake such a venture. Boca Juniors, the Argentine club where Diego Maradona began his career, opened their own cemetery in 2007, featuring grass from their La Bombonera pitch. While German club Schalke opened a site in 2012. According to Schalke public relations officer Sonja Berger: 'You can start your life with Schalke by getting baptized, you can get married at the stadium and now you can be buried at the Schalke cemetery'. The Corinthians cemetery will also offer fans a burial package, which includes a funeral ceremony with flowers in the club's black and white colours, a club flag to cover the coffin and a choir rendition of the club’s anthem. Plots are expected to range between €380 and €2,500 and some plots will be reserved for Corinthian players. Unfortunately for fans, Fred plays for Fluminense.