Why Do the Brazilians Love Football so Much?

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Why do the Brazilians love football so much?

http://www.ofutebol.com/2006/01/why-do-brazilians-love-football-so.html

By Doug Banks and Dan Osborne

Sitting down to reflect on our trip we tried to decide why it is that the Brazilians love football so much.

Most will agree that Brazil has the best players and the best team in the World, winning the World Cup more times than any other nation and currently having more representatives in the Champions League than any other nation. Thus, football has inevitably become a source of national pride and joy, something to give Brazil a conspicuous place in the World.

Of course, it is not enough to say that they love it because they are the best at it, so we were then faced with the question of why they are the best.

Firstly football is a game that is open to everyone regardless of age, race, wealth or social standing. Thus, as a game of the people, everyone has the opportunity to play and everyone can have the dream of making it as a professional player. For some, the simple chance to make money and escape poverty is probably incentive enough. For others, its a sport that can be enjoyed whenever and wherever.

Technically, the Brazilians are also considered the best in the World. We came up with a few ideas as to why this was: the of hours of beach soccer, futsal and futvolley, honing their skills in difficult conditions, their love for dance, samba and capoeira, giving them natural rhythm and flow to their game, and even the simple fact of their confident, happy natures enabling them to play with such gusto and freedom.

Yet despite all our rationalising as to why the Brazilians are so passionate about football, there is something more than that too, something unexplainable that gives them a special love for the game that you don´t find on the same scale anywhere else in the World...maybe its just in their blood.