Unless beer drinking is declared a sport, soccer will remain the most popular and almost only major practiced in Brazil.
And no country in the world plays soccer like Brazil. No country has the tradition and glory that has been won by Brazilian teams. Not England, Argentina, Italy, Germany, Spain or anybody else.
The greatest soccer players have been brazilian, the largest stadium is in Rio and the brazilian fans are the most fanatical.
Soccer in Brazil is more than two teams of 11 players attempt to put an inflated ball into goal cages at opposite ends of a playing field. Soccer is a childhood tradition, starting as soon as a boy can walk, and continuing throughout childhood and adolescense in the streets and fields of every city and village in Brazil, before, after and even during school hours.
The name of the game presents some confusion. In countries other than United States soccer is called football. In Brazil is is coomonly written as futebol and pronounced foot-tee-bol. The word soccer is derived from the term SOCiety footbol or asSOCiation football. The continuous action and fast pace of soccer have made it a major spectator sport throughout the world, and for the same reasons it has attracted millions of players. Since the late 1960s and early 1970s its growth Competing both formally and informally, there are many millions of soccer players in the world. The international governing body of soccer is the Federation Internationale de Football Associations (FIFA), with headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland. Every 4 years national teams -- made up of the top players from each country (who may play professionally for teams in other countries) -- vie for the World Cup, soccer's most coveted prize. It is the world's most popular athletic event, possibly excepting the Summer Olympics. The 1990 World Cup finals had a television audience that exceeded a billion. The 1994 Cup was hosted by the United States and was won by Brazil.
Soccerlike games undoubtedly predate recorded history. Soccer historians find its ancestry in the similar but unstructured games of medieval English village life. When the London Football Association issued (1863) its first set of rules, order was brought to the sport. All major innovations in soccer were English, such as international matches (between England and Scotland, in 1872), the introduction of professionalism (1885), and the first full-time league (1888). Soccer was carried to continental Europe, South America, and India by British sailors and settlers, and it gained instant appeal wherever it was demonstrated. The sport has been a regular Olympic Games event since 1908.
Soccer's international governing body, the FIFA, was formed in 1904 with the objective of organizing championship matches between professional teams of different nations. FIFA, headquartered in Switzerland, is headed by a Brazilian, Joao Havelange. Professionalism arrived in continental Europe in the 1920s and in South America less than a decade later. By 1930 the interest in soccer was high enough to ensure the success of the first World Cup, even though only 13 countries entered. Brazil is the ONLY country to have played in ALL world cups. Take that, Argentina.
No other team sport approaches soccer's popularity in both Europe and South America. The professional leagues on these continents play from fall through spring in domestic competition, after which the top teams take part in international "cup," or tournament, play. The European Cup is the most prestigious on that continent. The best tournament in South America is for the Liberator's Cup, often won by a team from Argentina. The excuse for this being that Brazilians don't care about Liberator's cup. Those two cup winners then meet for the annual World Club Championship.
The ardor of soccer spectators, particularly during international matches, sometimes results in violence. The worst soccer riot in history began when a goal was disallowed in a 1964 Olympic qualifying match in Lima between Argentina and Peru: 309 persons were killed and 1,000 injured. A 1970 World Cup qualifying match between Honduras and El Salvador sparked a border war between those two nations. At the 1985 European Cup final, held in Brussels and played between Liverpool of England and Juventus of Italy, 38 fans were killed and more than 200 injured when fighting erupted in the stands.
Edson Arantes do Nascimento (born in 1940), better known as Pele, was perhaps the greatest of all soccer players. A supremely gifted athlete, he started playing soccer as a teenager, and soon he was playing as well as seasoned veterans. Pele made his debut with the major league Santos club in 1956 at the age of 15 and soon gained a reputation as an electrifying goal scorer. A year later he was selected to play for the Brazilian national team, and in 1958 he led them to victory in the World Cup, Brazil's first international championship. Brazil won the World Cup again in 1962 and 1970 with Pele on the team. In his long professional career, in which he was never seriously injured, Pele scored 1,281 goals in 1,363 games, a remarkable feat because he was invariably given special coverage by the opposition. A muscular, compact man standing 1 m 72 cm (5 ft 8 in) tall and weighing 68 kg (150 lb), Pele possessed the perfect blend of physical power, dazzling ball handling, and an instinct for discerning an opponent's weakness. Pele retired in 1974 but was enticed to return to play in 1975 when the New York Cosmos offered him a multimillion-dollar contract. Although his once-matchless skills had faded, he was of immense value in popularizing soccer and helping establish the sport in the United States. Pele played with the Cosmos for 2 1/2 years before he retired permanently in 1977.
There is very little substantiated evidence to support these stories. It is, however, a fact that a certain Charles Miller, who was born in Brazil in 1874, and was educated in England, brought the first soccer and soccer equipment back to Brazil with him when he returned there in 1894. The first official soccer match was played in São Paulo at the Várzea do Carmo in 1894. It was an immediate success. On the 18th August 1898 the first official club team was formed by the Associação Atlética of Mackenzie College in São Paulo. After this, enthusiasm spread like wildfire and soccer was soon being played all over Brazil. Only three years later, in 1901, the São Paulo league was formed.
In 1900 the first stadium was converted in São Paulo to be used exclusively for soccer. It was named the "Velódromo Paulista" and was in continuous use until it was pulled down to make way for something better in 1914. The first international match also took place in São Paulo when a scratch team drew 2 x 2 with a strong Argentine side on July 2nd, 1908. The first British team to play in Brazil were the Corinthians in 1910 which inspired the formation of what is one of the most popular teams in Brazil, the Sport Club Corinthians Paulista.
Brazilian soccer improved as the players became more skilful, and in 1927 the Clube Atlético Paulistano were invited to tour Europe. They were the first Brazilian team to tour abroad and displayed those qualities which were soon to make Brazil a major world soccer power. Paulistano played 10 matches in France, Switzerland and Portugal, competing against the principal clubs and national teams. They won 9 of their matches losing only once, scoring 31 goals and conceding only 7. Professional soccer was only introduced in 1933, and even then it was in the teeth of considerable opposition from die-hard amateurs. This caused a serious split in the organisation of the game, which was only healed after the 1934 World Cup series. Because of the rift, Brazil was not able to field full strength teams in the 1930 and 1934 World Cup competitions.
Between 1933 and 1980, the Confederação Brasileira de Desportos - the Brazilian Sports Conferation - C.B.D. - which was in fact founded on the 8th June 1914 - exercised control over soccer, as well as the following sports: Archery, Athletics, Baseball, Indoor Soccer, Gymnastics, Weightlifting, Handball, Hockey, "Malha" (quoits), Swimming, Table Tennis and Water Polo..... 20 amateur sports and a single professional one, Soccer. The main source of income was a 5% tax on the gross receipts of any sporting event under its jurisdiction, soccer thereby supporting all other events.
In 1980, it was decided to separate soccer from all the other sports under the old CBD's control. So the Confederação Brasileira de Futebol (C.B.F.) came into existence, and immediately put into effect measures to improve and re-organise soccer in Brazil. One of the first decisions taken was to appoint a full-time team Manager. Secondly, the idea of a "Team in being" was put into operation, with the national team playing every four months, with only minimal preparation. A new soccer calendar was organised, participation of the clubs in the profits of the soccer pools (Loteria Esportiva) arranged, and the tax of 5% paid by the clubs on their gate money was abolished.
The formation of a group of experts first implemented by the old CBD has been continued under CBF. This group is selected with the object of doing everything possible to ascertain that all "off the field" problems are eliminated so as give the team the best possible chance of victory. The group, known as the "Technical Commission", includes: a supervisor; a manager; several trainers; 2-4 physical training instructors; 2 doctors and a specialised trainer exclusively for Brazil's goalkeepers - Brazil was the first country to appreciate the fact that goalkeepers require special training methods that cannot be applied to the outfield players, and consequently require the attention of an individual coach.
When the players first report, they undergo a stringent full medical examination by a team of specialised dentists, doctors, dieticians, pedicurists, etc. all under the direct control of the team doctors. The physical condition of the player is programmed so as to have him at peak fitness at the start of the second period of the competition. Normally, it is the practice to have the team at a high altitude for at least one month's training immediately prior to the World Cup. This increases the red corpuscles in the blood, giving greater resistance. However, nowadays this is becoming more and more difficult to implement as the great majority of the principal Brazilian players are playing for foreign clubs.
No detail is too small for consideration. For example, the grounds where matches are to be played are checked beforehand, as close as possible to match conditions, and always at the time of day that Brazil's match is due to be played. Many important details are discovered and passed on. Conditions of the dressing rooms and corridors are also verified; access and departure times covering the journey from stadium to hotel are checked; availability of medical facilities and distance of hospitals from the hotels/stadium are recorded. Other points noted are: steepness of stairs in hotels, etc. (pulled muscles); length of grass on the field; ground conditions; relaxation facilities for the players and full length feature films and video machines are hired; shopping facilities are investigated and host of other factors are examined. A completely private hotel outside the city limits is essential for the peace of the players. This also enables them to relax without constant pressure from the press or from the fans. The Technical Commission advise on the selection of the team, but the Manager always has the last word. It is normal practice for Brazil to select State teams to represent the country in some competitions. Eventually some 30 players are selected from which the final 22 to represent Brazil in the World Cup are chosen.
Floodlit Soccer: The first ever Brazilian floodlit soccer match was played on the 23rd June 1923. The pitch was illuminated with the headlights of the cities Trams. The game was between A.A. República and S.E. Linhas e Cabos (both teams have since disappeared), and was won by República by 2 x 1. The first soccer stadium to install floodlights was São Januário (Vasco da Gama) on 31st April 1928 - just one year after the stadium was built. The use of the white ball was pioneered by São Paulo F.C., who had a natural leather brown ball painted white. There is no doubt that soccer in Brazil is the national sport; wherever there is an open space you will find children and grown men kicking a ball around. The worker's idea of a lunch-time break is to organise a "pelada" - (a scratch game, with coats as goalposts, as often as not, two rolled-up socks as ball). In the interior of Brazil, wherever there is a small settlement you will find a soccer pitch. Even in the almost unexplored forests of Amazonas and Pará, you will find a clearing surrounded by lofty trees and dense undergrowth, hundreds of miles from the nearest electric installation, and two teams hotly engaged in a soccer match, watched by a group of Indians as fanatical as any supporters in the world. On Copacabana beach several championships are played. Some pitches are even foodlit and every Saturday afternoon goalposts and nets are erected and league games are played. The teams play 30 minutes each way barefoot. The sides of the "field" are limited by the sea on one side and the roadway wall on the other. The championships are organized by the C.B.F. and some 10,000 clubs register for the competition. The teams play in their own strip. As can be imagined, considerable skill is required to control the ball on the soft sand, and from this ready made "nursery" several players have graduated to professional teams. These games attract large crowds and support for the teams is considerable, especially when local districts are opposing each other.
