With Jogo Bonito, legendary stars, an inexhaustible youth team and five world titles, Brazil earned the reputation of the “soccer country.” But does the land of King Pelé still deserve this nickname?
If once the world surrendered at the feet of the mischievous and daring game of the eternal 10, as well as Garrincha and Ronaldinho Gáucho, the current Canarinha is highly criticized for being unable to bring home the World Cup since 2002 and the Ballon de Gold since 2007 with Kaká.
“We are experiencing a decline. Before we had more high-level athletes,” Edinho, eldest son of the late Pelé, said recently. The crisis does not escape President Luiz Inácio ‘Lula’ da Silva either, who recognizes that his homeland “no longer makes the best football in the world.”
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What happened to what was Brazil’s calling card since the first world conquest, in 1958? First of all, street football, from which many Brazilian legends such as Rivellino, Zico and Romário came from, is on the verge of disappearance.
Children and young people no longer play ball as they did for decades until the sun set on beaches, mudflats and pastures.
“There is no one playing in the streets anymore. “You don’t hear stories about a ball that broke the glass of the neighbor’s house,” laments Lauro Nascimento, at halftime of a game for his club, Aurora, in the north of São Paulo.
“Before, any free space was enough to make football an initiation. Today they are seen as excellent land to build on,” says sports historian Aira Bonfim, for whom urban insecurity also kept young people from practicing the beautiful sport.
Stained by saffron mud and wearing his auria-blue uniform, Nascimento plays in one of the few pastures that survive in the north of Sao Paulo. He and his friends pay 160 dollars a month.
Having to pay also represents a barrier for the lower classes, historical breeding grounds for the best players. Poor children are at the mercy of free football schools (barely one in five is free, according to a 2021 independent study).
Brazil remains the main exporter and producer of soccer players, but receives less money for its sales.
In 2023, 935.3 million dollars were paid for 2,375 Brazilians, 19% less than what was paid for the 1,753 negotiated in 2018, according to FIFA reports.
The decline can be explained by the boom in free agent signings or the early sales of players to Europe (younger, cheaper).
But also because of the difficulty of finding stars who differentiate themselves in an increasingly homogeneous football, which prioritizes tactics based on the European model.