Soccer

Without any doubt, Brazil is one of the biggest soccer countries in the world! For millions of Brazilians, soccer is a "way of life" and plays an important role in their social life.

The history of Brazil soccer is strongly influenced by the history of the people. The unique Brazilian culture was created by people from several countries. Before the Portuguese colonized the country, the Indians were scattered throughout the country. The Portuguese brought slaves from West Africa to have them work on the farms and mines. The African slaves brought with them their own music, dance, cookery and martial arts. All these things played an important part in creating the culture that all Brazilians now share.

Soccer was brought to Brazil in 1885 by the Englishman Charles Miller. It started as a game played only by rich boys in private clubs. After decades of discrimination against poor or black people, soccer changed into a professional activity in 1933 and after this it became very popular in schools, factories and clubs. Soccer was played throughout the country on beaches or fields and with its popularity, it was especially practiced by the low-income population.

The way soccer is played in Brazil is unique. Its style is the result of the rhythm and coordination from the black people. This unique quality was a characteristic of slaves that developed the capoeira, Brazilian martial arts and samba, which are characterized by footsteps to dance or to play under the rhythm of African drums.

The Brazil soccer team was the first team to win the World Cup five times in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, and 2002. Also Brazil has more professional soccer teams than any other country in the world.

Great players such as Pele, Garrincha, Zico, Romario and Ronaldo started playing soccer on dirt fields under poor conditions. They turned into very good players known all over the world, which also made Brazil very famous.

Many poor boys are dreaming of becoming the next Pele or Ronaldo and because of this, they promote the national soccer culture even more. Dreaming about soccer is a motivation for millions of children, who want to escape from their poverty. They combine the fun of soccer with living in poverty. It's even so that the soccer culture has a bigger influence on the Brazilian life than for example politics or economics.

According to soccer experts from all around the world, Brazilian soccer is a combination of amazing technical skills with the ball, superb athletic movements, a goal scoring philosophy by taking short passes and a patient yet creative and unpredictable attack.

Soccer is a way of life for the Brazilians and they play it in a way that the rest of the world has to be jealous of them.