Inventor of ‘vanishing spray’ used by referees says FIFA stole his idea and reneged on £30m deal

• Heine Allemagne, 47, came up with the idea for the disappearing foam in 2000
• He patented the idea in Brazil and it gradually started being used worldwide
• FIFA held talks with him but then encouraged other companies to produce it
• A Brazilian court ruled in his favour but FIFA has ignored the judgment
• FIFA may have to pay Mr Allemagne £10,000 for every game in which it is used

The inventor of the Russia 2018 World Cup’s revolutionary vanishing free kick spray claims he has been left destitute, debt-ridden and having to work as a farmhand to survive after FIFA backed out of a multi-million pound deal, then stole his idea.

Brazilian Heine Allemagne’s foam, which keeps the defenders’ wall 10 yards away and disappears after 60 seconds, was first introduced to the world at the last World Cup in Brazil in 2014 and proved a huge hit.

It has since become a permanent fixture in football after being adopted by the biggest leagues in the world, including the Premier League, and is being used by referees during this year’s tournament in Russia.

Acknowledged as the spray’s creator, this time four years ago Mr Allemagne, 47, was staying with FIFA bosses at Rio de Janeiro’s exclusive Copacabana Palace hotel and was being fêted by the biggest names in football, including Pele and Brazil coach Felipe Scolari.

And he was on the verge of becoming a multi-millionaire after he says football’s world governing body offered to buy the spray for £30million following its extraordinary World Cup success in Brazil.

 

But just months later, Mr Allemagne claims FIFA simply ‘pretended they’d never heard of me’ then started licensing other companies to manufacture ‘pirate’ versions of the spray, for which Heine possesses the only registered global patent.

Mr Allemagne, who had spent 15 years and more than £500,000 of his own money developing and testing the spray, says FIFA’s ‘betrayal’ left him penniless and jobless. As he continued to fight them in the courts he fell into a spiral of debt, he claimed.

MailOnline tracked down Mr Allemagne to a remote coffee plantation in the hills of Brazil’s Minas Gerais state, where he now earns a meagre living doing manual work such as digging trenches with a hoe and planting and picking coffee by hand.

Mr Allemagne, who moved to the 100-acre farm with his wife Andreia after being unable to find work in his hometown, said seeing his invention being used by referees in World Cup games this time around made him feel ’empty’.

He said: ‘I was at the opening game in Brazil, and at the final, feeling so much pride that I had made such an impact on football.

‘I felt that the dream that I had all my life had come true, and my life was about to change forever. I had taken my spray to the top of the world. But today that has all gone. When I see my spray being used I don’t feel any pride, I just feel empty.

‘That spray is now a part of football. I was the one who invented it, but when I see it on TV now it’s as if it wasn’t me at all. I’ve been cut out of the story.

‘FIFA destroyed me and my family. They stole from me not just my property, but the chance of being recognised in the history of football. What they did to me was dishonest and inhumane.

‘As I watch the World Cup games all I see taking place is a robbery, and one being televised live on air to billions of people around the world.’

But despite losing almost everything, Mr Allemagne is still determined to win the fight for justice against FIFA after filing a lawsuit against them for breach of worldwide patents he registered 18 years ago.

After a Brazilian court ruled in his favour last year, a judge last week banned FIFA from using free kick sprays during the Russian World Cup, ordering them to pay a fine of £10,000 for every game the order is ignored.

But in the most recent hearing, FIFA’s lawyers argued that the organisation doesn’t fall under the jurisdiction of Brazilian courts, despite international conventions between Brazil and the rest of the world.

Mr Allemagne said: ‘It’s a David and Goliath fight, little me against the most powerful sports organisation in the world, who have some of the most expensive lawyers in the world.

 

‘But I’m sure I will win in the end. I don’t know how long it will take, but I won’t stop until FIFA are made to recognise the wrongs they have done.

‘This is not just about money. I want to show the world that it doesn’t matter how small you are, you can still take on a giant and win if you have right on your side.’

These days Mr Allemagne wakes up before dawn and works until after sunset on the dusty farm near Pratinha, a small town in the west of Brazil’s Minas Gerais state, a region known for its coffee production.

For a small wage and a wooden hut for him and his wife, his daily tasks under a scorching sun include taking care of chickens and turkeys, carrying out maintenance work and operating farm machinery. His wife Andreia works in the farm’s office.

UK Mail