In 1914 Exeter City toured in South America, playing 8 matches in Argentina & Brazil. On July 27th (1 week before Britain entered the Great War) they played a Brazil selecao – a team selected from the best players in the country. This was the first international match played by Brazil. The game took place in Rio de Janeiro, at Fluminense’ Laranjeiras stadium (the name means Orange trees). Exeter lost 2-0.

Read a good account of the match (in Portuguese) with good photos on this site.

The article about the tour of South America in Exeter City FC site.

In May 2004 there was a return match between Exeter City and Brazil veterans at St James Park.

In 2014 (World Cup year), Exeter City returned to the same stadium to play Fluminense. The match report is on the Exeter City FC website

June 2014: Lovely little film about the match on the Guardian website.

Exeter’s very own Northcott theatre staged a community play about the match.