A Name to Remember: Jankel Schor (The 82 Year Old Keepie Uppie Legend)

April 14th, 2009 | by: Daryl |

I was listening to the latest episode of the BBC World Football Phone In over the weekend, and heard about an incredible 82 year old man named Jankel Schor who puts on a half-time keepie-uppie show at the Maracanã in Brazil.

My first thought was “Did they just say he was 82 years old?”, and my second was “Is this on YouTube?”

They did. And it is:

Apparently Mr. Schor can do 3,000 keepie uppies at a time. By sheer co-incidence, that’s about 3,000 times more than I can do.

And this isn’t even one of those stereotype confirming things about all Brazilians being brilliant at football. Mr. Schor was actually born in Russia, and later became a naturalized Brazilian (which certainly goes against the recent trend the other way.

At four score and two years of age, Mr. Schor is easily our oldest ever Name to Remember (they’re usually teenagers or younger). But just like those other wonderkids, Mr. Schor has big plans for the future. He wants to share his skills with a worldwide audience when Brazil hosts the World Cup in five 2014

We may or may not get to see Mr. Schor perform at World Cup 2014. Five years is a long time. But if you’d told me last week that an 82 year old man could do 3,000 keepie uppies then I’d have called you a liar. So after watching the above video, the idea of an 87 year old man doing keepie uppies suddenly seems a lot more reasonable.

Hats off to Mr. Schor, and long may he keep keepie upping.

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Ben

Guus Hiddink should call his guy up for Russia! Maybe he could form an attaking partnership with Pavluchenko, while Arshavin stays behind them as a CF.
Luis Paulo

I’ve seen him and he is incredible. He does not just do keepie uppies, but he does it while he is doing push-ups with the ball in the back of his neck. I first saw him in 98 while was doing keepie uppies on the half time of Vasco da Gama’s game at the Copa Libertadores. After a while he got kind of famous and they invited him to do that at Maracana. I’m pretty sure he will be healthy enough to do it in 2014. Let’s just wait and see if Fifa will allow him to do it.
EroticTangerines

I was at the Fla-Flu this weekend and saw this guy. Not only does he keep it up, but he also walks up and down the sideline while doing it. No one really pays attention to him, though, so the staffs are walking around him the entire time.