Brazilian Sport

Champions in Team Sports

Beside economics, beaches and exotic stories, Brazil is world wide known as very sports' nation, especially in football, volleyball and some other team sports. Here comes the short list


By WAVE Team (with Wikipedia)


Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian martial art marked by deft, tricky movements often played on the ground or completely inverted. It also has a strong acrobatic component in some versions and is always played with music. It is a culturally significant sport, developed in colonial times by slaves. Nowadays Capoeira is practiced internationally and found its way into popular culture through many computer games and movies.

Football (soccer): The most popular sport in Brazil is football. The National Team is immensely popular, not only in Brazil but also in the many parts of the world where football is appreciated, and there is also a renowned National League, boasting a nation-wide competition as well as several regional competitions. The Brazilian national team has been victorious in the FIFA World Cup tournament a record five times, in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002 and is the only team to have never missed out on a World Cup participation. Pelé, one of the world's most recognized players, led Brazil to three of those championships and is the top scorer of all time in the sport. After the third win, Brazil kept the original World Cup trophy permanently. Brazil competed in the 2006 World Cup as one of the favorites to win the competition, however they only placed 5th. Some of the contemporary talents in the national team prominent in the footballing world include Ronaldinho, Romário, Rivaldo, Ronaldo and Kaká. Some of these players can be considered superstars, achieving celebrity status internationally and signing sports contracts, as well as advertisement and endorsement contracts, in the value of millions of dollars.

World Cup tournaments are a social phenomenon, and it is not unusual for people to skip work to watch the national team play, and in some cases the very workplace will set up apparatus for its employees to watch the event together. It should be noted that the General Elections are usually held in the same year as the World Cup, and this is often criticized for taking advantage of the nationalistic surge created by football and bringing it into politics. Also, former footballers are often elected to legislative positions.

Brazil is also an emerging power in the women's game; the women's national team finished second to Germany in the 2007 World Cup and the USA at the 2004 Olympics. The country's best-known women's player is Marta, the winner of the Golden Ball (MVP) and Golden Boot (top scorer) at the 2007 World Cup, as well as the 2006 FIFA Women's World Player of the Year.

Volleyball: Currently Brazil is the most successful country when considering all categories of volleyball.

Brazil men's national volleyball team is currently the champion in the three major world competitions (Volleyball World Cup, World Championship and Olympic Games) and ranks number one in the FIVB World Ranking. The women squad, which is ranked number one in FIVB World Ranking, has among others titles: 2 Olympic Games bronze medals (1996 and 2000), 2 World Championship silver medals (1994 and 2006), 6 Volleyball Grand Prix golden medals (1994, 1996, 1998, 2004, 2005 and 2006), 1 Grand Champions Cup golden medal (2005).

Beach volleyball has also given Brazilian athletes much success worldwide, today Brazil is the ruling country. The FIVB 2006 World Tour has finished with Brazilians on the top in both men and women rankings. Both, men and women, have won Olympic Games medals. Men have won golden in 2004 and silver 2000 and women have won golden in 1996; silver in 1996, 2000 and 2004; and bronze in 1996 and 2000. Brazilian athletes have also collected many medals in the World Tour.


(Published: 10.05.2008.)

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