Ferri, known as “Il Falco” (The Falcon), is an Italian footballer who plays for Indian second division club United Sports Club. In recent months, she has worked as a humanitarian worker in Ukraine, from where she brought war refugees to safety in Poland.

During the second half of the Group H match between Portugal and Uruguay, she ran onto the pitch wearing a blue Superman jersey with the words “Save Ukraine” on the front and “Respect the Women of Iran” on the back. As she ran away from security, she waved the rainbow flag, which symbolizes support for LGBTQ+ sexual minorities.

After storming the field, Ferri was detained and handed over to the police. Thousands of wishes gather in social networks that he must gently handle. Rainbow-themed items are banned at stadiums in Qatar, where homosexuality is illegal. The Iranian referee Alirezá Faghání, who was officiating at the match, took the flag and the match continued.

Spectators who invade the pitch during a match are called “field invaders” in English, like “intruders on the pitch”. Usually, television cameras do not show the action live. In most cases, these are people trying to attract attention or gain fans on social networks. But that was not Ferri’s motivation.

Ferri first came to prominence in 2009 when he jumped onto the pitch during an Italy-Netherlands match demanding that national team coach Marcelo Lippi call up striker Antonio Cassano for the upcoming World Cup. He didn’t, and when the Italian team sensationally crashed out in the group a year later, Ferri returned to the pitch with the message: “Lippi, I told you so.”

Since then, however, his activism has been more political. During the Club World Cup final between Inter Milan and Mazembe (Democratic Republic of Congo) in Abu Dhabi, he ran onto the pitch with the message “Free Sakine”, referring to Iranian woman Sakine Mohammadi Ashtiani who was sentenced to death by stoning and finally in 2014 after nine freed from the death penalty.

At the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, he interrupted the group stage match between Belgium and the US with the message: “Save the favelas kids”. Favela is a term for a slum area in Brazil with a high crime rate.

This year, just weeks after Russian tanks crossed the Ukrainian border, Ferri hired a car to help refugees get from Lviv to Poland. On his Instagram, he stated that 60 people were rescued. According to the photos on these social networks, she worked as a volunteer in Ukraine for some time after that. One of his many tattoos is Tryzub, the national emblem of Ukraine.

Ferri’s action received support from Portugal midfielder Ruben Neves. We are all with them and with the message on the shirt too. We hope nothing happens to the boy because we understand the message and I think the whole world understands it too,” he told reporters after the match.

The ongoing football championship in Qatar is accompanied by a number of controversies. The organization itself was won by Qatar under very dubious circumstances, moreover, they did not have the necessary infrastructure and the stadium itself for holding such a large tournament. These were eventually built by hired workers from countries like India, Nepal, Pakistan or Bangladesh. who are denied decent working conditions, accommodation or access to health care. According to an investigation by British newspaper the Guardian, more than 6,500 workers have died since Qatar won the tournament.