Jacy Maranhao's Wild Goal Celebration Ends in Viral Fall

For a few delirious seconds at the Couto Pereira Stadium, Jacy Maranhao was living every defender’s dream. Then the ground quite literally disappeared beneath him.

The Coritiba captain had just done the unlikely on Saturday against Chapecoense in the 2026 Brasileirao: he found the net. A centre-back, scoring at home, in front of a fanbase desperate for a lift. He took off in celebration, hurdled the advertising boards with the enthusiasm of a man who doesn’t do this often, and vanished.

One leap. One barrier. Then nothing.

On the other side of those boards, instead of the embrace of supporters or a camera lens, there was a gap leading to the stairs and tunnel that connect the pitch to the locker rooms. The entrance, usually shut during play, had already been opened as halftime approached. Jacy, eyes fixed on the stands, hit it perfectly — and disappeared from view.

The footage raced around the world within hours: Coritiba’s captain flying over the hoardings, dropping out of sight, then clambering back into shot, dazed, stumbling, and somehow still trying to keep the party going with his teammates.

The twist? VAR soon ruled his goal offside. From ecstasy to embarrassment in under a minute.

Jacy didn’t finish the game. Pain in his foot forced Coritiba to substitute him in the second half, though the hosts held their nerve and beat Chapecoense 2–1. The defender later admitted he had simply lost himself in the moment.

He said he had been “carried away” — a rare scorer overwhelmed by the novelty of it all. Defenders don’t get many chances to write their name on a scoresheet, and when they do, restraint is usually the first casualty.

Speaking to local media, Jacy explained the celebration had a target: his pregnant wife in the stands. He sprinted toward her, intending to share the moment, but misjudged his route entirely.

He had forgotten that the access to the underground tunnel sat just beyond those advertising boards, on the opposite side from where he expected. One stride, one jump, and suddenly he was in freefall.

“When I jumped... you know that feeling when you dream you’re falling from a building? That’s what it was like,” he said, summing up a nightmare wrapped inside what should have been a career highlight.

The scare was real. During the match, he struggled to put proper weight on his foot. Coritiba took no risks and withdrew him, even as they pushed on to secure the win. The morning after, the tone changed. The defender took to social media to reassure worried fans.

“At first it was more of a scare than anything else. During the match my foot was quite painful and I couldn’t really put weight on it, but today I’m feeling much better and recovering well,” he wrote.

The incident has now joined a strange chapter in Couto Pereira folklore. It is not the first time a Coritiba player has vanished into that same tunnel mid-celebration. In 2014, Cameroonian striker Joel Tagueu suffered an almost identical fate, tumbling into the opening after scoring for the club.

Different year, different player, same drop.

For Jacy, the relief is that the damage appears limited to bruised pride, a sore foot, and a viral clip that will follow him for the rest of his career. For every defender who dreams of scoring, his fall is a reminder: sometimes the hardest part isn’t finding the net. It’s surviving the celebration.