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"It was all over. Brazil had won its first World Soccer Cup, a 30-centimeter-high statuette of a woman which was offered in 1930 and is now the most envied trophy in the world's biggest international sport. Brazil itself went wild," John Mulliken wrote in a 1958 Sports Illustrated article.

When General Charles de Gaulle famously said in 1963, " Brazil, ce n'est pas un pays sérieux (Brazil, that is not a serious country)," he reflected common foreign perceptions about Brazil's adolescence as a country. Yet the French leader, like many observers, overlooked on important detail about Brazil: By 1963, Brazil was serious about soccer.

From 1938, when it first made its mark in international soccer, to the 1970s, Brazil experienced a golden age in the sport. The national team's success culminated in the 1970 International Federation of Football Association (FIFA) World Cup, held in Mexico, when Brazil became the only country to win the Cup three times. From the 1930s to the 1970s, Brazilian soccer strengthened Brazil's national identity. Brazil's distinctive form of soccer excellence provided a counterpoint to the standard view of Brazil as a backward, underdeveloped nation. Yet the positive image of Brazil built on its soccer strength still faced contradictions that held the country's reputation, and later its development, back; Outside coverage and analysis never fully stopped portraying Brazilian soccer as one more example of the country's stunted development-as a raw asset that was less than fully formed.

The Rise of Brazilian Soccer

When football first arrived in Brazil in 1894, the British sport was an elitist game. It was largely restricted to private, urban, amateur clubs, and the players were mostly European-born. Over time, however, as the sport spread to suburban areas inhabited by people of lower-class backgrounds, the pelada [informal] culture emerged. Young, poor, black Brazilians played spontaneous pick-up matches on beaches and open fields. An important breakthrough came in 1923 when Rio de Janeiro's Vasco de Gama Club, founded in 1898 by affluent Portuguese bankers, allowed poor blacks and mulattos to join and went on to win the city championship that year.

The quadrennial World Cup, a form of "mock war," allowed Brazil to assert its dominance. The "beautiful game," as it was called by the British, with its unique emphasis on footwork, dribbling, natural and improvised rhythmic moves, became a national asset. Brazil hosted the 1950 World Cup in Rio's new stadium, the Maracana, the world's largest at the time.

The '58 World Cup was a national experience. One Brazilian journalist wrote in the newspaper Ultima Hora of the new national pride, the sense that Brazil no longer had to consider itself inferior to the other countries it met in competition, not only because of the way the team played the game but because of the way the players behaved:

Here in Brazil, at the same time, every one of us wanted to sit on the curb and cry. Every grown man lost the shame to mourn his own happiness. Shame would be to stay dry, parched like a tap from the Zona Sul. And, now, with the arrival of the immortal team, the tears fall anew. We admit that this "scratch" (a term of endearment for the Brazilian national team) deserves them. It deserves them for everything: not just for the soccer, which was the most beautiful mortal eyes have ever seen, but also for its marvelous disciplinary index. Until this championship, the Brazilian was judged a boor, born and bred. He would hear English and envy it. He thought the Englishman the finest, the most sober type of man, with an unspeakable politeness and ceremony ... [in this championship] the following became clear: the Englishman, as we conceived of him, does not exist. The only Englishman that appeared, in the World Cup, was the Brazilian. For these reasons, we will not be ashamed ... we are going to sit on the curb and cry. Because it is a joy to be Brazilian, friends (Rodrigues, 62)!

Soccer as Export

Although, in many ways, soccer helped to elevate Brazil in the second half of the twentieth century, U.S. and other foreign coverage of the sport tended to mirror historic patterns in coverage of Brazil's culture, economy, and politics. It was regarded as yet one more of the country's natural resources: Soccer strength, like other resources, had the potential to help empower the nation, yet it served to keep Brazil under the thumb of outside powers once it came to be exploited, as had brazilwood, coffee, and sugar at other points in the country's history. Eventually, as soccer developed in Brazil, foreign businesses from the more modernized European nations and the United States took advantage of Brazilian soccer much as they had with its natural resources. And, as with those resources, the outside powers gradually depleted and polluted Brazil's natural soccer strengths.

Foreign newspaper and magazine articles have repeatedly used certain tropes and themes to characterize Brazil and its people as backward, under-developed, childlike, poor, and corrupt. Descriptions of futebol-the distinct style of play that made Brazil great-often revealed a similar tone of superiority. While futebol, in some ways, still provided contrast with other lagging industries as something at which Brazil excelled, it often inspired depictions that made it seem wild and unstructured.

Tomás Mazzoni, an Argentinean journalist writing in 1949, vividly described Brazilian soccer's wild, improvisational rhythm and its sharp divergence from the European style:

For the Englishman, football is athletic exercise; for the Brazilians it's a game. The Englishman considers a player that dribbles three times in succession is a nuisance; the Brazilian considers him a virtuoso. English football, well-played, is like a symphonic orchestra; well-played, Brazilian football is like an extremely hot jazz band. The English player thinks; the Brazilian improvises (Hamilton 188).

Mulliken's 1958 Sports Illustrated article, released after Brazil won the World Cup for the first time, repeated this condescending characterization:

The artistic, dazzling Brazilians, who do not like hard-tackling type of defense, which characterizes European soccer, were expected to be troubled by the vigor of the straight-shooting Swedes (Mulliken).

According to these writers, Brazilian soccer is artistic, natural, and dance-like, but also wild, vulnerable, and disorganized in comparison to the structured style of European play. Such descriptions carried on into the 1970s, with another Sports Illustrated article said the team played "with the fluid rhythm of a conga dancer."

Similarly, journalists and analysts highlighted Brazil's lack of infrastructure and backwardness by portraying soccer as a poor man's game, wracked with disorganization and corruption. The Brazilian soccer clubs, run by the corrupt cartolas, existed as private, amateur institutions. Because the private "non-profit" clubs were not subject to public scrutiny, they often fell into corrupt practices.

The Decline of the Game

Not only was Brazilian soccer portrayed as a natural resource by the foreign press, but increasingly after the '58 World Cup, foreigners took concrete steps to commercialize and exploit that natural resource. "Brazil is the world's largest exporter of sugar, coffee, and footballers," Alex Bellos writes in his 2002 analysis of the history of the game, Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life. "I began to see the country as a big estate where the agricultural product is 'futebol.' The country is a sporting monoculture. And football mirrors the old hierarchies."

In extracting the valuable resources of Brazilian soccer, the players were the first to go. American and European teams began to raid Brazil's national talent, turning players into exports. Every time a rising star became a favorite, he was sold off to Europe or the United States, joining a team there. Perhaps the most significant example, Pelé, signed $4.7 million contract to play for the New York Cosmos in 1975, shortly after leading his national team to victory in the 1970 World Cup.

The structure and system of Brazilian soccer were next. Business-oriented foreigners, trying to commercialize and professionalize what they viewed as Brazil's disorganized, corrupt, and amateur sport, seized opportunities to tap the sport's profit potential. In 1998, when the Brazilian national team returned home after losing to France, fans were waiting with Brazilian flags in which the Nike swoosh replaced the motto "Order and Progress." The Brazilian Football Confederation had entered into a deal with Nike that, in essence, sold its team. The Nike flag was emblematic of the foreign takeover of Brazilian soccer.

Pelé

The experience of the most outstanding Brazilian player in history, Pelé, is a microcosm for the fate of Brazilian futebol. Raised in the streets of a São Paulo favela, he was 17 years old when he played in the 1958 World Cup. His back-heel moves and famous bicycle kick were seen as unconventional and backward. Even his name reinforced this image-"Its simplicity and childishness reflects the purity of his genius," Bellos writes.

In 1975, in the Hunt Room of the 21 Club in Manhattan, Pelé signed a multi-million dollar contract with Warner Communications, Inc. to play for the New York Cosmos. Pelé became a brand, an international reference point, and the most registered name after Coca-Cola in 1970s Europe. His is a quintessential rags-to-riches story, but it is also the story of how globalization and commercialization took over what had originally been an inspiring story of personal success.

Over the course of Brazil's history, more developed countries have tended to view Brazil as a younger version of themselves, and have assumed that Brazil should follow their models of progress and development. Although soccer started out as a British import, it quickly took on a distinctly Brazilian quality. It was that quality-the open, improvisational nature of futebol -that propelled Brazil to its greatest success on the field. Along with that success, however, came the growing influence of more developed countries and outside businesses that sought to develop the "natural resource" of soccer and eventually deplete it.

The golden age of Brazilian soccer came to a close, and the game-now in disarray-struggles to live up to past expectations. "The dream has ended, and it's a shame, because it was a beautiful dream," a New York Times article announced following Brazil's defeat in the 1982 World Cup. In the end, though, Brazil's success from 1950 to 1970 and the international recognition of that success cannot be undone or forgotten; it remains a source of national pride as an example of what Brazil is capable of accomplishing on its own terms.

Further Reading

Janet Lever's Soccer Madness addresses the role of soccer, Brazil's primary mass sport, in the country's development: its role in social control, class dynamics, and national infrastructure.

Sources

Bellos, Alex. Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life. New York: Bloomsbury, 2002.

Hamilton, Aidan. An Entirely Different Game: The British Influence on Brazilian Football. Edinburgh: Mainstream, 1998.

Hoge, Warren. "Brazil Mourns Its Fallen Soccer Team." New York Times (8 July, 1982).

Levine, Robert M. "Sport and Society: The Case of Brazilian Futebol." Luso-Brazilian Review 17:2 (Winter 1980).

Mulliken, John. "The Samba No One Could Match." Sports Illustrated (July 7, 1958).

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Brazilian Futebol and the 1958 World Cup

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"It was all over. Brazil had won its first World Soccer Cup, a 30-centimeter-high statuette of a woman which was offered in 1930 and is now the most envied trophy in the world's biggest international sport. Brazil itself went wild," John Mulliken wrote in a 1958 Sports Illustrated article.

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October 9, 2022

In Brazil, the "Taca das Favelas" is one of the most popular sports tournaments. Held in the Rio de Janeiro slums, it's not just about the game but also unity and respect.

The 'Taca das Favelas' can be a chance for young players to catch the eye of talent scouts

The small stands in the stadium in Rio de Janeiro's Realengo neighborhood are full. Spectators are banging drums, holding up signs and singing loudly, in the heart of Brazil's most famous city.

Anyone who travels here passes by half-built bus stops that should have been finished for the Olympics in 2016. They are just one sign of the state's many unrealized ambitions, a state that promised to use the Olympics to improve living conditions for the people living in the slums here. Instead, it just engendered more corruption.

Six years later, the Favela World Cup is taking place here in Realengo. It is a tournament especially for the slums of the city, also known as favelas. There is a similar tournament in Sao Paulo. It's an "Olympics for the poor," a grassroots movement in Brazilian football that has developed a charismatic character of its own.

Local pride

"This is the World Cup of the favelas," defender Julian Henrique Lopes told DW.

When he plays for his favela, Vila Croacia, he goes by the nickname "Hulk", given to him because of his physical stature.

"We give our life for this and we represent our slum," the 18-year-old said proudly.

The tournament is extremely popular and, after a break due to the pandemic, returned this year for the tenth time.

"We are back" is written on the blue signs around the arena. There are no VIP boxes here, just a lot of honest enthusiasm. One of the most noticeable differences to the professional game is that before the game all those involved - from subs and coaches to staff - get together for a team photo. Everyone is included, and everyone plays a part.

In the small stadium, banners specifically tailored to the audience fly high. The organization that runs the event, the CUFA, also makes its presence felt. It is a message of unity: In this district, a place often neglected by the state, there is untapped potential.

The message is that if the state or the official football association does nothing, then the people here will organize themselves.

A historic accomplishment

"This favela tournament is a chance for young people, and one that should always be there," said Elaine Pereira dos Santos, coach of Vila Croacia. "This tournament is a historic accomplishment," the 40-year-old told DW. "This is the only thing that welcomes people from the favelas."

Sometimes the tournament is also the first step for young talents that eventually go on to play professional football.

Ronaldo Cesar Sores dos Santos was a teenager at one of these tournaments and now he plays for a Bulgarian team, Levski Sofia.

"I played in two 'Taca das Favelas'. One when I was really young, just 14 or 15," dos Santos recalls. "The games there were a calm moment, a moment when we were all friends."

The feelings may have been sweet but, the 21-year-old admitted, in sporting terms, they were a tough lesson. "Whoever played badly was dropped."

Today, scouts looking for the next international soccer star attend the games.

Sadly, Vila Croacia only made it to the quarter-finals. In Saturday's final, Complexo do Muquico triumphed over CRB Dick 1-0, while the women's final was won by Sapo de Camara, who beat Complexo da Coreia, also 1-0.
This article was adapted from German.

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Brazil's football contest from the slums: More than a game - DW - 10/09/2022

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In Brazil, the "Taca das Favelas" is one of the most popular sports tournaments. Held in the Rio de Janeiro slums, it's not just about the game but also unity and respect.

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Ever wondered why Brazil are known as 'The Samba Boys' and love to celebrate with dancing?

What is the samba soccer style that the Brazil national football team are so famed for?

The Selecao are renowned for a way of playing football which has been dubbed the 'samba soccer'. If you've tuned into a World Cup over the past half a century, you may be familiar with the term. The likes of Pele, Ronaldinho and Neymar have all embodied the art form of Samba, on the world stage.

But how exactly do you define it and where did it all begin? GOAL explains.

What is samba soccer (ginga)?

Samba soccer is a style of football that is heavily influenced by varying aspects of Brazilian culture.

It is also known as 'ginga', which translates to 'swing' or 'sway' in English. Sway perhaps encapsulates what we're used to seeing from Brazil teams over the years more literally.

Playing with ginga is to perform with a certain level of swagger, arrogance and style. Brazilian playersare famous for performing some of the most audacious skills and this is driven by their samba soccer identity.

More specifically, samba's influences can be broken down into two primary elements:

A martial art called Capoeira: an ancient technique originating from Angola, including skills such as kicking, headbutting, deception and evasion.

The samba dance: a solo dance that is mostly performed standing with a straight leg movement involving a slight bending of the knees.

The way many Brazilians dribble, for example, moving slowly forward with minimal contact on the ball, is a reflection of samba dance. Similarly, explosive movements to evade an oncoming challenge or to deceive an opponent with a body change, are emblematic of Capoeira.

Samba dancing in football

Brazilianplayers often use dance as their celebration of choice, when a goal is scored. Whether it is solo or as part of a group, the feel-good vibes and sense of enjoyment is palpable.

For example, Brazil rejoiced in their 4-1 defeat of South Korea in the last 16 of the 2022 World Cup by celebrating each goal with a dance, including one which saw head coach Tite participate.

However, it was not universally well-received on that occasion, with former Manchester United captain Roy Keane . "It's 4-0 and they are doing it every time. I don't mind the first kind of jig, whatever they're doing, it's the one after that," Keane told suggesting it was disrespectful to the opposition ITV. "And then the manager getting involved with it. No I'm not happy with it, I don't think it's good at all."

Dancing to celebrate a goal is not a phenomenon that is limited to Brazil. At Italia '90, Cameroon striker Roger Milla famously wiggled next to the corner flag. He did the same four years later, at USA '94. Papa Bouba Diop celebrated his goal for Senegal against France, in 2002, by performing a mbalax dance with his teammates.

While some may view it as disrespectful, dance is intrinsically linked with football, particularly so in Brazil. It is likely that samba will continue being passed down from one generation to the next, as it has since done since the 1930s.

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What is samba soccer? Brazil football style, dancing & tricks explained | Goal.com

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Have you ever wondered why Brazil play the way they do? The answer is samba - learn more about their style here.