The Brazilian family who hopes to count all of their country’s World Cup wins on one hand
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A Brazilian family who have six digits on their hands are cheering their country to victory at the World Cup so they can count the number of trophies on one hand.
Some 15 members of the da Silva family, nicknamed ‘Family Six’, have six digits on their hands – and sometimes feet – and are willing captain Thiago Silva to lead the squad to its sixth World Cup win.
Brazil is the most successful team in the history of the World Cup, having won five times in Sweden in 1958, in Chile in 1962, in Mexico in 1970, in the USA in 1994 and in South Korea and Japan in 2002.
The da Silvas are hoping this turns to six at Qatar 2022.
Nicknamed ‘Family Six’, some 15 members of the da Silva family (three pictured) have six digits on their hands – and sometimes feet
![The Brazilian family who hopes to count all of their country's World Cup wins on one hand 2 The rare genetic variation, called polydactyly, has reportedly been in the da Silva family for four generations](https://nybreaking.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/1670323054_521_The-Brazilian-family-who-hopes-to-count-all-of-their.jpg)
The rare genetic variation, called polydactyly, has reportedly been in the da Silva family for four generations
The surname Silva is common in Portuguese countries and is the most popular surname in Portuguese-speaking Brazil, but the national side’s captain and the family are not related.
But the family are willing their country on to win another World Cup and are looking forward to being able to count all six wins on one hand.
Yesterday that ambition came one step closer in Qatar with the 4-1 win against South Korea in the round of 16 knockout game, in which Vinicius Jose Junior, Neymar, Richarlison de Andrade, and Lucas Paqueta scored.
South Korea’s Seung-Ho Paik fired in a long-range strike on the 76th minute, but it was not enough to counter the Brazilian steamroller.
No doubt the six-fingered family, who live in Aguas Claras, in the Federal District, just outside Brazil’s capital Brasilia, will have been gripping the edges of their seats with all their digits.
The rare genetic variation, called polydactyly, has reportedly been in their family for four generations.
‘Family Six’ are said to be confident that Brazil will prevail this time. Six-fingered student Maria Morena joked: ‘For the next World Cup, you will have to find someone with seven fingers.’
The da Silvas made headlines during the 2014 World Cup held in Brazil, with two members going to Germany in 2015 to take part in a study looking into how their brains decided to give them a sixth finger, according to local media.
Silvia Santos da Silva, the granddaughter of one of the family’s first members to have six fingers – the late Francisco de Assis Carvalho da Silva – said: ‘They wanted to know about it so they could make better prostheses.’
The study published in the journal Nature and said hands with six fingers are controlled by more muscles and nerves than hands with five fingers.
Francisco de Assis Carvalho da Silva, nicknamed ‘Six’, was a lawyer and musician who became famous due to his extra finger. He reportedly founded the Clube do Choro, a traditional music venue in Brasilia.
![The Brazilian family who hopes to count all of their country's World Cup wins on one hand 4 Josevaldo de Almeida Thome, 45, another six-fingered Brazilian football fan, also hopes to celebrate his country's sixth World Cup win on just one hand](https://nybreaking.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/1670323066_272_The-Brazilian-family-who-hopes-to-count-all-of-their.jpg)
Josevaldo de Almeida Thome, 45, another six-fingered Brazilian football fan, also hopes to celebrate his country’s sixth World Cup win on just one hand
![The Brazilian family who hopes to count all of their country's World Cup wins on one hand 6 Josevaldo de Almeida Thome said: 'Whenever there's a cup I get anxious. The expectation is to be able to do the hexa sign using only one hand with the new title'](https://nybreaking.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/1670323071_763_The-Brazilian-family-who-hopes-to-count-all-of-their.jpg)
Josevaldo de Almeida Thome said: ‘Whenever there’s a cup I get anxious. The expectation is to be able to do the hexa sign using only one hand with the new title’
Silvia said most of her family live in Brasilia, adding it all started with her maternal grandmother, who passed the trait down to the next generations.
She said: ‘When a baby is born, we immediately ask if it’s going to have five or six fingers, because six is right for us.
‘People, initially, don’t ask so many questions because they think we’re ashamed of having six fingers. But, after they get to know us, they realise that this for us is more natural than anything.’
Silvia, who said her ‘Family Six’ was also known as ‘Familia Hexa’ – ‘hexa’ comes from the ancient Greek word ‘hex’, which means ‘six’ – said that about 10 of her family members watched the first World Cup match against Serbia on 24th November.
Silvia said: ‘We are very festive people. Not all the ‘sixes’ will come, as some are abroad. We are very festive people, my father was a musician, so I grew up in the middle of parties.
‘We will have traditional Serbian meat and sarma, which is cabbage or grape leaves rolled up and cooked with some stuffing.’
It’s unclear if they celebrated their victory against South Korea with kimchi.
Recently, Josevaldo de Almeida Thome, 45, a six-fingered Brazilian football fan who also hopes to celebrate his country’s sixth World Cup win on just one hand, made headlines, with him saying: ‘Whenever there’s a cup I get anxious. The expectation is to be able to do the hexa sign using only one hand with the new title.’