'Brazilian Guiana': meme that angered the Portuguese goes viral again with Portugal's debut in the World Cup

Meme 'Brazilian Guiana' irritates Portuguese people on social media: 'This is no joke'
The debut of the Portugal team at the 2026 World Cup revived a meme that irritated the Portuguese in 2025: "Brazilian Guiana".
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In the first half of last year, Brazilians recorded videos with a joke that treated the country as if it were a territory of Brazil in Europe. The joke even topped Google Brazil's ranking of memes of the year.
One of the Portuguese people who responded to the meme said he likes jokes, but warned that some of the comments go beyond the limits and can encourage prejudice.
"Talking about a culture, a people of a nation, a flag, everything has limits", said Bruno Oliveira. "This is bad, this is no joke. It's already on another level."
Another said that the Brazilian Guiana meme doesn't bother her, but that she is "embarrassed" when Brazilians comment on the Portuguese accent.
"I love Brazilians, but these attitudes only generate more conflicts", said Bruna Filipa. "Speaking badly of the language of the people who welcomed you, of the Portuguese, of the country, comparing it to a favela, is very disrespectful."
Portuguese people published videos to counter the 'Brazilian Guiana' meme, which treats Portugal as Brazil's territory
Reproduction/Social media
In another video, a Portuguese man countered by saying that Brazil would like to be part of the European Union and have the euro as its currency.
"Stay with Brazil on one side of the Atlantic and we will have Portugal on the other side. Don't try to convince yourselves that one day Portugal will be Brazilian", said the user, who identifies himself only as Bruno.
An influencer called Nokas made a humorous video and admitted that Brazilians are creative with memes.
"First, it was the gold meme. Then, it emerged that we speak archaic Portuguese, prehistoric Portuguese. And now, are we Guyanese?".
The meme even ended up on Wikipedia, where a page created this Friday (18) said that Portugal had been integrated into Brazilian territory in a historic agreement. The content was taken down from the site in about 10 minutes.
Brazilians joke that Portugal would be "Brazilian Guiana" and irritate the Portuguese
Reproduction/X
Brazilians responded with more memes
In the comments, Brazilians double the bet with even more memes - they suggest renaming Lisbon as "Vitória da Reconquista" and nickname Portugal "Pernambuco standing", in an allusion to the two's similar format in map.
Others claim that the joke is nothing compared to the Portuguese colonization in Brazil and the cases of discrimination suffered by Brazilians in Portugal.
In 2021, 109 complaints of xenophobia were registered against Brazilians in Portugal, an increase of 142% compared to 2018, according to a survey by the Commission for Equality and Against Racial Discrimination.
The cases range from veiled situations such as difficulty in renting an apartment, getting a job or accessing health services, for example, requests to speak in English instead of Brazilian Portuguese, to explicit insults and aggressions.

Source: G1