Football in Brazil

Football is the most popular sport in Brazil and a prominent part of the country's national identity. The Brazil national football team has won the FIFA World Cup five times, the most of any team, in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002. Brazil and Germany are the only teams to succeed in qualifying for all the World Cups for which they entered the qualifiers; Brazil is the only team to participate in every World Cup competition ever held. Brazil has also won an Olympic gold medal, at the 2016 Summer Olympics held in Rio de Janeiro and at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Brazil also hosted the 1950 and 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Pelé won three World Cups (he was injured during most of the 1962 World Cup). Some of the most prominent players in football come from Brazil, including Garrincha, Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Romário, Ronaldinho, Nilton Santos, Djalma Santos, Taffarel, Falcão, Rivaldo, Zico, Kaká and Neymar in men's game and Marta in the women's game.
The governing body of football in Brazil is the Brazilian Football Confederation.
Football was introduced to Brazil by Scottish immigrant Thomas Donohoe. The first football match played in Brazil was in April 1894, played on a pitch marked out by Donohoe next to his workplace in Bangu.
In the 1870s, like many other British workers, a Scottish expatriate named John Miller worked on the railroad construction project in São Paulo with other European immigrants. In 1884, Miller sent his ten-year-old son Charles William Miller to Bannister School in Southampton, England, to be educated. Charles was a skilled athlete who quickly picked up the game of football at the time when the Football League was still being formed, and as an accomplished winger and striker Charles held school honors that gained him entry into the Southampton F.C. team, and later into the county team of Hampshire.
In 1888, the first sports club was founded in the city, São Paulo Athletic Club. In 1892, while still in England, Charles was invited to play a game for Corinthian F.C., a team formed of players invited from public schools and universities. On his return to Brazil, Charles brought some football equipment and a rule book with him. He then taught the rules of the game to players in São Paulo. On December 14, 1901, the "Liga Paulista de Foot-Ball" was founded, organising its own championship, "Campeonato Paulista", first held in 1902. Therefore, Campeonato Paulista became the oldest official competition in Brazilian football. Another important club, called Società Sportiva Palestra Itália club, that was founded in 1914 played a big role in helping Italian immigrants get accustomed to Brazilian society. The club's goal was to promote "Italian identity and allegiance, helping the immigrant community to cultivate a sense of discrete ethnicity".
São Paulo Athletic Club won the first three years' Paulista championships. Miller's skills were far above his colleagues at this stage. He was given the honor of contributing his name to a move involving a deft flick of the ball with the heel "Chaleira" (the "tea-pot"). The first match played by one of Miller's teams was six months after Donohoe's.
Another competition, Campeonato Carioca, was first held in 1906 as the Rio de Janeiro State football championship, being contested up to present days.
Charles Miller kept a strong bond with English football throughout his life. After a tour of English team Corinthian F.C. to Brazil in 1910, Corinthians was established on September 1, taking on the name of the British side after a suggestion from Miller. In 1913 there were two different editions of the Campeonato Paulista. One was organized by the Associação Paulista de Esportes Atléticos (APEA) while the other one was organized by the Liga Paulista de Foot-Ball (LPF).
The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) was founded in 1914, but the current format for the Campeonato Brasileiro was only established in 1959.
Brazil plays a very unfundamental and distinctive style. For example, dribbling is an essential part of their style.
After the third title in the 1970 FIFA World Cup, Brazilian football experienced a drought of World Cup titles, which would only end in 1994. In the meantime, despite playing flashy football that enchanted the world (like the 1982 FIFA World Cup squad), the Seleção started to prioritize results-based football. Thus, since the mid-1990s, Brazilian football began to lose its characteristics. For Tostão, Brazilian football has become outdated: "The most classic example of this is that in the last 20 years Brazil has not had a single great midfield player. And this happened because there was a division in the midfield between the midfielders, who play scoring further back, and two midfielders, who play up front, close to the opponent's area. The game lost exchange of passes in that environment. The Spanish and Germans do this very well. That was the best Brazil had in my time and disappeared. We had Gérson, Rivellino, Clodoaldo, then Falcão, Toninho Cerezo. This is what Iniesta, Rakitic, Modric and Kroos did, for example, and what Xavi and Schweinsteiger did. This characteristic that the Europeans encouraged most, the Brazilians devalued. We created many area dribblers. This is just one example of how Brazilian football has gone down the wrong path."
The great exodus of players in recent years to European competitions has generated a great debate in the country, especially about the consequences this would have on the style of Brazilian football, as it could "Europeanize" the way players act.
The Brazil national football team is one of the main national football teams in the world. The biggest winner of the FIFA World Cup, with five titles, Brazil is known for its yellow and green shirt, with blue shorts and white socks, the four colors of the national flag. Because the shirt is predominantly yellow, the Brazilian team is also treated as the Canarinho team.
Founded on July 21, 1914, the 12th anniversary of Fluminense Football Club, the Seleção played its first game at the Laranjeiras Stadium, against the English team Exeter City. The Brazilian team is widely considered the most relevant team in world football.
The Brazilian national team also won the Copa América on eight occasions, the Confederations Cup on four, and in 2016 and 2020 won the gold medal, awarded to football champions at the Olympic Games, in the edition of the games held in Rio de Janeiro , having won three silver medals for runners-up and two bronze medals for third places.
The Brazilian team's biggest rivals are Argentina and Uruguay on the American continent. In addition to these, the Europeans, England, Italy and the Netherlands, are traditional opponents, due to the clashes held, mainly in World Cups.
The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) is the highest sports entity in the country. It organizes all championships in the national territory and represents Brazil in international competitions between countries with the Brazilian team. It is headquartered in the city of Rio de Janeiro.
State Federations are responsible for regulating football in each State within its jurisdiction. They are inferior bodies linked to the CBF, having their own autonomy to organize championships, elect president, sign contracts and recognize clubs and associations linked to the sport.
The Superior Court of Sports Justice (STJD, in Portuguese) is a legal body in the field of sports in Brazil. He is responsible for judging cases involving clubs and athletes. It is common for them to participate in the daily life of Brazilian football through trials of cases of suspension due to red and yellow cards, cases of aggression or even doping. Its lower body is the Sports Justice Court (TJD, in Portuguese), which operates at state level.
In Brazil, historically 12 clubs are considered "big", although some others are also occasionally identified as big clubs, notably in their states of origin, including Atlético Paranaense. Those named in the lists with 12 clubs are: São Paulo, Palmeiras, Corinthians and Santos, all from the State of São Paulo; Fluminense, Flamengo, Vasco and Botafogo, all from the state of Rio de Janeiro; Internacional and Grêmio, from the state of Rio Grande do Sul, and Atlético Mineiro and Cruzeiro, from the state of Minas Gerais. In addition to these thirteen mentioned, Brazilian champion clubs are Bahia, Coritiba, Guarani and Sport, a total of 17 Brazilian Championship champion clubs, with Atlético Paranaense having had enormous growth in assets and income in the 21st Century, therefore being considered one of the greats of Brazilian football by much of the national press.
A source of great controversy in Brazil, the football calendar has over time been the target of criticism from fans, specialized journalists and even club directors. With the approval of the "Football Fan Statute" by the National Congress, changes began to transform the national calendar. According to the CBF, the intention is to make the Brazilian calendar compatible with those of European countries, to reconcile the interests of national and international football organizations.
The Brazilian season traditionally starts in January. Today, the first competition to be played by professional squads is the state championships. Previously, between the mid-1990s and 2002, regional competitions, such as the Rio-São Paulo Tournament, the Copa Sul-Minas and the Copa Nordeste, for example, were held at the beginning of the year. They involved teams from different states. However, they were extinguished, as they overwhelmed the big teams in the first half. The Copa do Brasil, played in the first half of the year, grew and gained importance. This is the only national competition that involves clubs from all states in Brazil, classified based on state tournaments from the previous year. By decision of the CBF, the Copa do Brasil now also includes the participation of teams qualified for the Libertadores da América, also played in the first half of each year. Bahia team was the first Brazilian champion, in 1959.
The Brazilian Football Championship, also popularly known as Brasileirão, has been held between May and December normally, since 2003. As it starts before the middle of each year, the championship suffers with the opening of the foreign market between July and August, causing many players move to other countries. Furthermore, its beginning takes place during the decisive phase of the Copa Libertadores and its completion is in competition with the Copa Sudamericana.
In total, a Brazilian club can end up playing around 70 matches throughout the year. There are 20 more compared to the representatives of the main European leagues, or 22 compared to their South American neighbors. First division games in the country usually take place in rounds on Wednesday and Thursday, in the evening, and Saturday and Sunday, in the afternoon.
In the past, the state and national championships, since they were created, divided the Brazilian football calendar. One competition for each semester. Furthermore, in parallel to the state competitions, there were municipal and regional competitions and, in some places, the Home Tournament, which had all its matches in just one day.
Football is a significant part of the Brazilian identity. It is considered the country's most significant socio-cultural activity. In this way, football is not only a sport, but also an essential part of Brazil's cultural identity. It is the most popular sport in Brazil, and Brazilians passion for the sport makes them often refer to their country as "o País do Futebol" ("the country of football").
The integration of the sport in different segments of society marked the beginning of the Brazilian football identity. The sport became part of Brazilians daily life, and with time, it also became part of the popular culture.
The biggest evidence of the importance that football has on Brazilian culture is the World Cup. Every four years, Brazilians dominate the streets, cheering and celebrating their country. The sport brings people together.
However, in recent years, with the rise of the internet, which makes it easier to follow any sport, and with Brazil's evolution in Olympic sports (the country became one of the 15 strongest in the world at the Olympic Games), the Brazilian population has been changing their tastes, and begins to become more interested in sports such as surfing, skateboarding, tennis, swimming, judo, volleyball and others, reducing the importance of football.
Women's football, unlike men's, has noticeably less popularity in the country.
The Brazilian women's national team managed to finish as runners-up at the Olympics in 2004, 2008 and 2024, and at the Women's World Cup in 2007.
Brazil will host the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup.
Football is broadcast in television in the following channels:
Brazilian football clubs are affiliate to their state federations and state federations are themselves federate to Brazilian Football Confederation. As such, each state has its own league pyramid (see State Championships), Campeonato Paulista (the oldest and most traditional), Campeonato Carioca, Campeonato Mineiro, Campeonato Gaúcho being the most prominent.
There's a parallel federal pyramid. That means each club plays its state championships and only some biggest clubs play on the federal championships. Those two systems run in parallel there's no direct rank or relegation-promotion from one to the other besides state federations being responsible for appointing one to four clubs each to form each year Campeonato Brasileiro Série D. Each state set its own rule for those appointments but it's usually done through best position of the clubs on the top state tier that does not play any federal league or by a qualifying tournament, e.g. Copa Paulista is a tournament to select the fourth qualified from São Paulo (state) to Série D.
The federal system is composed of four tiers:
State top tiers run from January to April and federal leagues from May to December, so clubs on federal leagues can handle their state schedule without conflict. Lower state tiers run from February to November.
Although uncommon it's possible for a 'big' club to be relegated to its state second-tier league while still playing a federal league. It happened for instance to Criciúma who was relegated to 2022 Campeonato Catarinense Série B, the second-tier league on Santa Catarina pyramid, while still playing Campeonato Brasileiro Série B. They resolved the problem of schedule conflict fielding a junior team in 2022 Campeonasto Catarinense Série B. Many of the states championships have their own promotion/relegation system.
Stadiums with a capacity of 40,000 or higher are included.