Swedish Soccer Player Catches Beer Thrown to Him, Chugs It, Becomes Instant Legend

A goal is a cause for celebration in football (the soccer kind), or any sport with goals really. Unfortunately, nowadays, the lavish antics after a successful goal are often snuffed by party-pooping referees. But how about just a celebratory toast?

Kennedy Bakircioglu, a midfielder for a Swedish football team Hammarby IF, scored a stunning 30-yard goal against Gothenburg earlier this week—but it’s not the goal that will go down in history. After scoring the uncatchable free-kick goal, the 37-year-old veteran started a frenzied race with his teammates towards the corner flag. In the middle of all the excitement, and amidst flying toilet paper raining down on them, a fan standing in the bleachers decided to throw him a beer because, well, he deserved one, didn't he? Bakircioglu, totally unfazed by the foreign object hurtling towards him out of the stands, catches what appears to be a plastic pint of beer (that somehow didn't all spill en route) mid-air, goes all helan går and downs it like a champ. Watch the entire goal and post-goal celebration here.

Someone get this fan into a track-and-field Olympic pipeline program. Not only did he or she manage to cover the distance between somewhere in the seats and the football field, but they also timed it perfectly. An impeccable throw filled with purpose and goodwill. Sure, it’s probably also a violation of rules—I can’t imagine Allsvenskan, Sweden’s professional football league, will encourage fans to continue throwing objects at the field—but come on, this was perfection.

After the game, the Swedish demigod of beer-drinking was unapologetic about his majestic catch. “It was a beer that was thrown in with joy. I managed to catch it and get a little bit. I thought it was awesome, a funny thing,” Bakircioglu said on the broadcast. Besides, it would have been downright rude not to drink it.