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American football has become a popular sport in Brazil since cable television made it possible for people to watch National Football League games. The main organization for American football in Brazil is the American Football Brazilian Confederation.
Historically, American football games were played on sand, as to avoid the use of exported equipment from the United States of America and to reduce the impact of the tackles. The 2010s have seen most Brazilian states develop American football teams of various types; including flag football, tackle American football and women's football. [1] A Brazilian Portuguese forum regarding American football was founded in 1998 in order to get more people watching the games on ESPN. As of 2013, there are 2500 Brazilian people who play American football. The first organized American football game between two Brazilian teams took place in 2008 when the Curitiba Brown Spiders took on the Barigui Crocodiles. [2]
100 coaches from American high school and adult amateur teams have been sent to Brazil to teach aspiring coaches about the basics of American football. [3] [4]
Media attention traditionally given to Brazil on association football have been increased towards American football. Very little sponsorship money is given; as most money is tied into association football. Victor Menossi Rodrigues is one of the founders of the Brazilian "form" of American football after experimenting with boxing and judo. A significant number of female spectators are attracted to American football in Brazil; even to the point where they go to parties where the American football players pretend to speak English. Children between the ages of 8 and 13 are being encouraged by educational organizations to start participating in American football. [5]
Other traditional fixtures in the Brazilian sports lifestyle like volleyball and Formula One are slowly losing their fanbase to American football. Once the game transitioned from sand to grass, the popularity of American football jumped. Players are only asked to practice occasionally and women have been embraced into even the "full contact" leagues. [6] Copacabana Beach is considered to be the birthplace of American football in Brazil; where 20 men played the first game of American football in Brazilian history. [7] All American football games not done on the beach are played out in public parks and teams must pay up to $300 to the municipality as rent. [8] All Brazil had for equipment in 1989 was mouthguards from boxing rings and imported American footballs. [7]
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players each, who primarily use their feet to propel a ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is to score more goals than the opposing team by moving the ball beyond the goal line into a rectangular-framed goal defended by the opposing team. Traditionally, the game has been played over two 45-minute halves, for a total match time of 90 minutes. With an estimated 250 million players active in over 200 countries and territories, it is the world's most popular sport.
Flag football is a variant of gridiron football where, instead of tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or flag belt from the ball carrier ("deflagging") to end a down. In flag football, contact is limited between players. The sport has a strong amateur following with several national and international competitions each year sponsored by various associations but is most popularly played in America where it was invented. The international governing body for the sport is the International Federation of American Football (IFAF). In 2022, flag football was shortlisted as a proposed discretionary event for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, with inclusion being accepted on October 16, 2023.
The Professional Spring Football League (PSFL) was a proposed outdoor american football minor league slated to begin in 1992. The league was founded by Vincent Sette, a computer sales executive, while TV executive Rex Lardner served as commissioner.
An exhibition game is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or the team's rankings is either zero or otherwise greatly reduced. Exhibition games often serve as "warm-up matches", particularly in many team sports where these games help coaches and managers select and condition players, before the competitive matches of a league season or tournament. If the players usually play in different teams in other leagues, exhibition games offer an opportunity for the players to learn to work with each other. The games can be held between separate teams or between parts of the same team.
Sports in Brazil are those that are widely practiced and popular in the country, as well as others which originated there or have some cultural significance. Brazilians are heavily involved in sports. Football is the most popular sport in Brazil. Other than football, sports like volleyball, mixed martial arts, basketball, tennis, and motor sports, especially Formula One, enjoy high levels of popularity.
Beach soccer, also known as beach football, sand football or beasal, is a variant of association football played on a beach or some form of sand.
David Allen Zdrilic is an Australian association football coach and former player, who is currently the head coach of A-League Men club Perth Glory. Zdrilic is also a football presenter on the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), Most recently he was a key figure in SBS's coverage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
The most popular sport in Mexico currently is association football (soccer) followed by boxing. Historically, soccer has been the dominant sport in Mexico shaping the national sports scene. The Mexican Primera División is one of the top soccer leagues globally. Baseball also holds a notable place in Mexican sports culture, particularly in the northwest and southeast regions of the country, particularly in states such as Sonora and Sinaloa, and in the southeast, notably in Yucatán and Quintana Roo. The Mexican League serves as a major league in this sport, with a strong regional following. The country has produced many renowned Boxers, and major fights generate considerable interest and viewership.
Sports in the United States are an important part of the nation's culture. Historically, the national sport has been baseball. However, in more recent decades, American football has been the most popular sport in terms of broadcast viewership audience. Basketball has grown into the mainstream American sports scene since the 1980s, with ice hockey and soccer doing the same around the turn of the 21st century.
A contact sport is any sport where physical contact between competitors, or their environment, is an integral part of the game. For example, gridiron football. Contact may come about as the result of intentional or incidental actions by the players in the course of play. This is in contrast to noncontact sports where players often have no opportunity to make contact with each other and the laws of the game may expressly forbid contact. In contact sports some forms of contact are encouraged as a critical aspect of the game such as tackling, while others are incidental such as when shielding the ball or contesting an aerial challenge. As the types of contact between players is not equal between all sports they define the types of contact that is deemed acceptable and fall within the laws of the game, while outlawing other types of physical contact that might be considered expressly dangerous or risky such as a high tackle or spear tackle, or against the spirit of the game such as striking below the belt or other unsportsmanlike conduct. Where there is a limit as to how much contact is acceptable most sports have a mechanism to call a foul by the referee, umpire or similar official when an offence is deemed to have occurred.
Women's professional sports are a relatively new phenomenon, having largely emerged within the latter part of the 20th century. Unlike amateur female athletes, professional female athletes are able to acquire an income which allows them to earn a living without requiring another source of income. In international terms, most top female athletes are not paid and work full-time or part-time jobs in addition to their training, practice, and competition schedules. Professional organizations for women in sport are most common in developed countries where there are investors available to buy teams and businesses which can afford to sponsor them in exchange for publicity and the opportunity to promote a variety of their products. Very few governments support professional sports, male or female. Today there are a number of professional women's sport leagues in the United States and Canada.
Several sports related to volleyball have become popular. Indoor volleyball and beach volleyball are both events at the Olympics, and sitting volleyball is an event at the Paralympics. Other varieties are localized, or are played at an amateur or informal level.
The Russia national beach soccer team represents Russia in international beach soccer competitions and is controlled by the Russian Football Union, the governing body for football in Russia. The team's highest achievements are three World Cup crowns conquered in 2011, 2013 and 2021.
American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with possession of the oval-shaped football, attempts to advance down the field by running with the ball or throwing it, while the defense, the team without possession of the ball, aims to stop the offense's advance and to take control of the ball for themselves. The offense must advance at least ten yards in four downs or plays; if they fail, they turn over the football to the defense, but if they succeed, they are given a new set of four downs to continue the drive. Points are scored primarily by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone for a touchdown or kicking the ball through the opponent's goalposts for a field goal. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins.
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word football generally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly called football include association football ; Australian rules football; Gaelic football; gridiron football ; International rules football; rugby league football; and rugby union football. These various forms of football share, to varying degrees, common origins and are known as "football codes".
Due to historical associations and geographical location with the United States, Cubans participate in American popular sports. While the majority of Latin American nations embrace soccer as the national game and pastime, in Cuba things are different. The country is not known for its soccer programs internationally. Instead, baseball is the most popular team sport along with volleyball, wrestling, basketball, sailing, boxing, and trekking.
The major sports in Venezuela are baseball, basketball and football. Baseball in Venezuela originates with the early 20th century cultural influence of the United States oil companies. The Venezuelan Professional Baseball League was established in 1945. Football in Venezuela lags behind baseball, but its popularity in recent years has grown. Basketball and volleyball are also popular sports; there has been a national basketball league since 1974. The Vuelta a Venezuela is one of six cycling events in the UCI America Tour. The polo club Lechuza Caracas has had some success in North American polo competitions.
Béla Guttmann was a Hungarian footballer and coach. He was born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary, and was Jewish. He was deported by the Nazis to a Nazi slave labor camp where he was tortured; he survived the Holocaust.
The history of sports in the United States reveals that American football, baseball, softball, and indoor soccer evolved from older British sports—rugby football, British baseball, rounders, and association football, respectively. Over time, these sports diverged significantly from their European origins, developing into distinctly American versions. For example, over time, American football developed its own rules and style, becoming distinctly different from its British predecessor and uniquely American. While baseball's origins can be traced to British bat-and-ball games such as British baseball, its development in the United States also incorporated elements from various other bat-and-ball games. Today, baseball enjoys widespread international popularity, especially in East Asia and Latin America.
