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.
Pelé celebrating the victory of Brazil in the FIFA World Cup.
Football is the most popular sport in Brazil. The Brazil national football team, governed by the Confederação Brasileira de Futebol, has won the FIFA World Cup a record 5 times, in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, and 2002,[1] and is the only team to succeed in qualifying for every FIFA World Cup competition ever held. Brazil also hosted the 1950 and 2014 World Cups, becoming the only country in South America to have hosted two World Cups (Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile being the other former hosts). It is among the favorites to win the trophy every time the competition is scheduled. After Brazil won its third World Cup in 1970, they were awarded the Jules Rimet Trophy, when Pelé, one of the most recognized football players in history and all-time top scorer in the sport, led Brazil to three of those championships. The national football team has also won the Copa América 9 times, the Olympic football tournament twice and is the most successful team in the FIFA Confederations Cup, with 4 titles. All of the leading players in the national teams are prominent in the football world, including Pelé, Zico, Garrincha, Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Romário, Ronaldinho, Taffarel, Falcão, Rivaldo and Neymar in the men's game, and Marta in the women's game. Some of these players can be considered super-stars, achieving celebrity status internationally and signing multi-million club contracts, as well as advertisement and endorsement deals.
Football variations: futsal, beach football, footvolley
Brazil invented some variations of football, such as beach soccer and footvolley. Futsal, having been invented in Uruguay, neighboring Brazil, is also widely practiced in the country, mainly in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, neighboring Uruguay.[2]
In futsal, Brazil is one of the greatest world powers. Before the Fifa Era, there were three World Cups, organized by the former International Federation of Indoor Soccer (Fifusa), where Brazil was world champion twice. Brazil is the biggest champion of the FIFA Futsal World Cup, with 5 titles. Falcão is the most renowned male Brazilian player.[3]
Footvolley is a recreational sport widely practiced on Brazilian beaches, mainly in Rio de Janeiro, where it was invented. It was created by Octavio de Moraes in the 1970s. It is a mix of football and volleyball, where the players must use their feet and head to get the ball over the net and into the opponent's side, and is played on the beaches. It is one of the most popular beach sports in Brazil. Footvolley started out with 5 players on each team but later got cut to 2 players on each team and is still so to this day.[5]
Capoeira
Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian martial art that combines elements of dance and music, and is marked by deft, tricky movements that are often played on the ground or completely inverted. It also has a strong acrobatic component in some versions and is always played with music. It is a culturally significant sport, developed in colonial times by slaves. Nowadays, capoeira is practiced internationally and found its way into popular culture, through many computer games and movies.
Brazilian jiu-jitsu, vale tudo, and mixed martial arts
Brazil has professional volleyball team competitions: the Superliga Masculina de Vôlei and its female counterpart, Superliga Feminina de Vôlei. Among the most successful teams are Minas, Banespa, and Santo André for the male league, and Rexona, Osasco, and Flamengo for the female league.
Brazilian younger teams maintain the same success rate as the senior squads. As of March 25, 2007, in the FIVB men ranking for junior and youth, Brazil is placed first for women, while the men are placed second.
From Emerson Fittipaldi's debut in 1970 to Felipe Massa's retirement in 2017, there were 48 consecutive Formula One seasons with at least one Brazilian driver. As of the 2022 season, Massa is the last Brazilian driver to have competed full-time in Formula One.
The Brazilian Grand Prix has been on the Formula One calendar since 1972, currently held in October or November. Two circuits have been host to the race: Jacarepagua and Interlagos. The Jacarepagua circuit, located in Rio de Janeiro, hosted the 1978 race, and then between 1981 and 1989. From 1972 to 1977, in 1979 and 1980, and from 1990 to the present, the Grand Prix has been held at the Interlagos circuit in São Paulo.
One Formula One team has been based in Brazil: Fittipaldi Automotive, owned by Emerson Fittipaldi and his brother Wilson. The team competed from 1974 to 1982.
In motorcycle racing, the most prominent Brazilian racer in MotoGP as of now is Alex Barros, who is the most experienced racer of all time in the category, with 276 race starts and seven wins. The Brazilian motorcycle Grand Prix was held four times between 1987 and 1992, followed by the Rio de Janeiro motorcycle Grand Prix which was held nine times between 1995 and 2004.
Maria Esther Bueno is the most successful Brazilian tennis player at the Grand Slam tournaments. She won seven single titles (four wins at the US Open and three at Wimbledon) and twelve doubles titles (five at Wimbledon, four at the US Open, two in the Roland Garros, including a mixed doubles title). In the men's game, Gustavo Kuerten is the most successful Brazilian player, with three wins at Roland Garros (1997, 2000, 2001) as well as being ranked number one in the world for almost a full year. However, bad administration and lack of serious support resulted in poor results in the present years and scarcity of national-level competitiveness. Beatriz Haddad Maia is the first Brazilian woman to enter the world's top 20 in the Open Era.[18]
In the country, Doubles has been stronger, especially with Marcelo Melo, Bruno Soares and Luisa Stefani. Melo has been ranked No. 1 in the ATP Doubles Rankings and Soares has achieved a peak ranking of No. 2. Stefani was the first Brazilian woman to reach the world's top 10 in the Open Era. Melo won his first Grand Slam title in Roland Garros and his second in Wimbledon. He has also reached at least the semifinals of all four Grand Slams, has won 9 Masters 1000 titles and reached the doubles final on the ATP World Tour Finals. In 2009, he reached the mixed doubles final at the French Open with American Vania King, becoming the seventh Brazilian to reach the final of a Grand Slam and the first since Gustavo Kuerten. Soares won the 2016 Australian Open and US Open Men's Doubles with Jamie Murray, 2020 US Open Men's Doubles with Mate Pavić, the US Open Mixed Doubles title in 2012 (with Ekaterina Makarova) and 2014 (with Sania Mirza), and the 2016 Australian Open Mixed Doubles with Elena Vesnina. He also has 4 Masters 1000 titles (a double championship at Canada's Masters 1000 in 2013 and 2014, the Cincinnati Masters 1000 in 2018 and the Shanghai Masters 1000 in 2019).[20][21]
Swimming
Cielo at the 2009 US National Championships in Indianapolis.
Swimming is very popular in Brazil. Being a sport usually recommended for children, and suitable for a country with a tropical climate like Brazil, swimming has grown and started to produce important sporting icons. Although the country had some success with swimmers like Piedade Coutinho, Tetsuo Okamoto, Manuel dos Santos and José Fiolo, the sport started to become more popular with Djan Madruga, Rômulo Arantes and Ricardo Prado in 1970s and 1980s; going through Gustavo Borges and Fernando Scherer in the 1990s, Brazilian swimming today manufactures great talents in succession.[22][23]
In Brazil, athletics tends to lose many practitioners to football, who grant better salaries to athletes. It's one of the reasons why the country has less global prominence in events such as the 100 metres. The sport is usually concentrated in some clubs specializing in athletics, and also receives attention and support from the country's Armed Forces. Brazil has a tradition in events such as triple jump and hosts important long-distance running events, such as Saint Silvester Road Race.
Handball is a sport that came with German immigrants, which is very popular in schools around the world. It's the second most practiced sport in schools in Brazil, second only to football / futsal. The national team is considered the best in South America, and the sport is gaining in media coverage. Brazil women's national handball team were crowned world champions for the first time at the 2013 World Championship. They also finished 5th at the 2016 Summer Olympics.[33][34]
Skateboarding is a popular sport in Brazil. According to a study of 2019, the estimated number of skateboarders in Brazil was close to 8.5 million (the majority in the state of São Paulo).[38] Many of the world's top skateboarders are Brazilian, including Bob Burnquist, Sandro Dias, Lincoln Ueda, Rodrigo Menezes, Luan de Oliveira, Felipe Gustavo, Rodil Ferrugem, Nilton Neves, Fabrizio Santos, Alex Carolino, Christiano Mateus, Karen Jones, Ricardo Porva, Daniel Vieira, and Og de Souza. Fabiola da Silva is well known for aggressive inline skating.[39]
With the rise of skateboarding to the category of Olympic sport in 2020, Rayssa Leal became famous for her silver medal obtained at the age of 13. Pedro Barros and Kelvin Hoefler also won Olympic medals. Other famous skaters like Pâmela Rosa and Letícia Bufoni also stand out.[40]
Surfing is one of the most popular aquatic sports in Brazil, with several professional Brazilian surfers competing in the men's and women's ASP World Tour, including former world champions Gabriel Medina and Adriano de Souza. Brazil is known for producing longboard surfers (such as former world champion Phil Razjman), big-rider surfers (such as Carlos Burle and two-time XXL award winner Maya Gabeira) and well-known bodyboarders.
Brazilian surfing has progressively evolved to become one of the biggest forces in the sport in the world. Fábio Gouveia reached number 5 in the world in 1992. In the 2010s, the Brazilian Storm appears, with several Brazilians getting closer and closer to the world title, until Gabriel Medina conquers the same in 2014 and Adriano de Souza wins in 2015. In 2020 surfing ascends to the category of Olympic sport and Ítalo Ferreira becomes Olympic champion. Filipe Toledo was also world champion, in 2022 and 2023.[41][42]
Chess is a sport with many fans in Brazil. Henrique Mecking, known as Mequinho, is considered the most important Brazilian chess player, having reached his peak in 1977, when he was considered the third best player in the world, surpassed only by Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi. More recently, in an online blitz game played in May 2020, Luis Paulo Supi defeated reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen in 18 moves after sacrificing his own Queen.[44] The match received worldwide attention as Carlsen broadcast it live, and was left speechless after his defeat.[45] In April 2021, Chess.com awarded that game the first spot in their Chess.com Immortal Game Contest.[46][47][48]
Table tennis is very popular and widely played in Brazil, and the country has a considerable tradition in this sport. The greatest player in the history of the country is Hugo Calderano, who reached number 3 in the world in 2022 (becoming the greatest Americas player of all time), and was the first South American to reach the quarterfinals of this sport at the Olympic Games. Other historically important players in the country are Gustavo Tsuboi, Cláudio Kano, Hugo Hoyama, Biriba, Cazuo Matsumoto, Thiago Monteiro and Bruna Takahashi.[49][50]
Yane Marques is the only person born in South America to win an Olympic medal in modern pentathlon (until the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games), having also been the first person in Latin America to do so.[54]
The Brazilian Isaquias Queiroz is the best canoeist in the history of South America, being the only Olympic champion of this modality on the continent and adding a total of four Olympic medals until the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Erlon Silva also won Olympic silver for Brazil in canoeing.[55][56]
Although Brazil has little tradition in fencing, the country has produced some renowned athletes. Nathalie Moellhausen was world champion in 2019 and reached the quarter-finals of the 2016 Olympic Games in Women's épée. Guilherme Toldo reached the quarter-finals of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Men's foil.[59]
In Brazil, roller in-line hockey is the most popular form of hockey, unlike ice hockey that is still dependent on infrastructure. Brazilians that practices hockey, mostly practices the roller in-line hockey.
The main world championships of Ice Hockey are transmitted through cable TV in the country, among them the NHL played between teams of Canada and the United States, and the European League. Despite this, the modality finds difficulties in falling in the popular taste of the country.
Also, the sport is already one of the most played around the country, with approximately 130 teams. The Superliga Nacional de Futebol Americano (National American Football Superleague) is a recently created Brazilian American football league, created and organized by the Confederação Brasileira de Futebol Americano[pt] (Brazilian Confederation of American Football).
Rugby has been played in Brazil since at least 1888. Although it has been played in Brazil for as long as football, it has never enjoyed its popularity, it's also mostly played amateurly. The Brazil national rugby union team has so far never qualified for a Rugby World Cup, it did secured the South American Rugby Championship for the first time in 2018 and in November the national team had an historical friendly with the Māori All Blacks. A domestic club competition, the Campeonato Brasileiro de Rugby, has been contested annually since 1964. Rugby returned to the Olympics in Rio 2016 (in the 7-a-side tournament form) - see Rugby sevens at the 2016 Summer Olympics. As 2016 Olympic hosts, Brazil men's and women's teams automatically qualified.
The sport is not widely played in schools, but is common in universities. All 27 states were reported to have rugby clubs, but around 50% of the active clubs are located in the São Paulo state.[64] As of 2016, rugby was played by about 60,000 Brazilians and has experienced sizeable growth in the country.[65]
Paulo Orlando became the first Brazilian born player to win the World Series in 2015.
Baseball is traditionally practiced mostly by the Japanese communities in Brazil.[66][67] It is not very popular in the country, but with the cable TV coverage of the games, baseball is also gaining fans among non-nisseis. There are several regional leagues on the rise in the country, however, the difficulty in finding baseball fields prevents regular practice of the sport that is often played on adapted football fields.
The first important feat of Brazilian baseball was achieved in 2023: when participating in the 2023 Pan American Games, the Brazilian team surprised everyone by defeating countries that were in the top 10 in the world and that have a long tradition in the sport, such as Cuba and Venezuela, in addition to Colombia, finishing with the silver medal.[68]
Curling is a growing sport in Brazil; the creation of a national team was inspired by the audience for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. A temporary rink in the Eldorado Shopping Center in São Paulo featured Norwegian curler Linn Githmark and a winter-sports complex is planned, probably in the city of Campos do Jordão.
Frescobol is a native[69] Brazilian sport similar to tennis and cricket, played with a wooden racket and soft rubber ball on the beach with no scoring system. It began during the 1960s on Ipanema beach. Biribol is another native sport created in Birigüi, São Paulo state. It is a kind of volleyball played in a swimming pool. Peteca (shuttlecock) is a native sport which originated from indigenous games.
Rodeo enjoys significant popularity in some rural regions of southern states. The rodeo event of bull riding has become a significant niche sport on its own since the success of Adriano Moraes on the US-based Professional Bull Riders (PBR) circuit in the 1990s and 2000s. PBR now runs a national touring series in Brazil, and Brazilian riders are heavily represented on the main PBR circuit in the US.
Due to the tropical and subtropical nature of the climate of Brazil, it has not traditionally competed in the Winter Olympics, although it made its first appearance in the 1992 Winter Olympics, and most recently participated in the 2014 Winter Olympics. However, Brazil has been competing in the Summer Olympics since 1920. Brazil is currently ranked 33rd in the overall ranking of medals in the Summer Olympics. Rio de Janeiro hosted the 2016 Summer Olympics, the first Olympic Games held in South America.
On television, football is by far the most watched sport on both free and paid television, games from regional teams often guarantee the top audience in its cities, also European football (especially UEFA Champions League) are guaranteed high viewing figures.
MMA in a short period of time has become the second most broadcast sport on Brazilian TV, due mainly to the resounding success of Brazilian fighters in the UFC.
Basketball is also widely broadcast, prominently the national league (NBB), the NBA and FIBA. Basketball's level of popularity is returning to its historical levels.
Bossaball is a team sport that originated in Brazil and was conceptualised by Belgian Filip Eyckmans in 2004.[1] Bossaball is a ball game between two teams, combining elements of volleyball, football, and gymnastics with music into a sport. It is played on an inflatable court featuring a trampoline on each side of the net.[2] The trampolines allow the players to bounce high enough to spike the ball over the net.
Clube de Regatas do Flamengo, more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian multi sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea, best known for their professional football team. They are one of two clubs to have never been relegated from the top division, along with São Paulo. Flamengo is the most popular team in Brazil with more than 46.9 million fans, equivalent to 21.9% of the population that supports a team in Brazil.
Football is the most popular sport in Brazil and a prominent part of the country's national identity. The Brazil national football team has won the FIFA World Cup five times, the most of any team, in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002. Brazil and Germany are the only teams to succeed in qualifying for all the World Cups for which they entered the qualifiers; Brazil is the only team to participate in every World Cup competition ever held. Brazil has also won an Olympic gold medal, at the 2016 Summer Olympics held in Rio de Janeiro and at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
The Copa do Brasil is a knockout football competition played by 92 teams, representing all 26 Brazilian states plus the Federal District. It is the Brazilian domestic cup and it is the Brazilian equivalent of the FA Cup, Taça de Portugal, Copa del Rey, Scottish Cup and Copa Argentina, even though it has much more prestige and is considered almost as important as the Brazilian League, as the prize money is higher than the Brasileirão's. The Copa do Brasil is an opportunity for teams from smaller states to play against the big teams. The winner of the cup automatically qualifies for the following edition of the Copa Libertadores de América, the most prestigious continental football tournament contested by top clubs in South America organized by CONMEBOL.
Talita Antunes da Rocha is a Brazilian beach volleyball player, playing as a blocker. She was FIVB rookie of the year in 2005, and World Tour Winner twice, in 2013 and 2015.
Rugby union in Brazil is a rapidly growing sport, with rugby union increasing in popularity at universities across Brazil.
The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, commonly referred to as the Brasileirão, the Série A or the Brazilian Série A, is a Brazilian professional league for men's football clubs. At the top of the Brazilian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Campeonato Brasileiro Série B. In 2021, the competition was chosen by the IFFHS as the strongest national league in South America as well as the strongest in the world.
Brazil first participated at the Olympic Games in 1920, after missing the previous five Summer editions. The country has sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games since then, except for the 1928 Games. As of 2024, Brazilian athletes have won a total of 170 medals in 18 different Summer sports.
Brazil sent a delegation to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, in August 2008. Brazilian athletes have competed in every Summer Olympic Games since 1920, except the 1928 Summer Olympics. The country is represented by the Brazilian Olympic Committee. Brazil headed to the Beijing Games with its largest Olympic delegation at the time, 277 athletes, including 132 women.
Association football is the most popular sport in almost all South American countries. There are a wide range of sports played in the continent of South America. Popular sports include rugby union, baseball, basketball, tennis, golf, volleyball, hockey, beach volleyball, motorsports and cricket. South America held its first Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016. Two years prior to this, major cities in Brazil hosted the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Marianne Steinbrecher is a Brazilian volleyball player, who plays as a wing spiker at Molico/Osasco. She represented her native country at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, in which she helped her country win the gold medal.
The Esporte Clube Pinheiros, founded on 7 September 1899, by German immigrants, under the name Sport Club Germânia, is a multi-sports and social club located in the Brazilian metropolis São Paulo. The full name of the club is Esporte Clube Pinheiros São Paulo (E.C.P.S.P.). The club's name is commonly abbreviated as E.C. Pinheiros, or E.C.P. It has around 35,000 members, and its terrain comprises 170,000 m2 in the well regarded quarter of Jardim Europa. The club's assets are valued to be in excess of R$ 350 million.
Sports in Chile are performed at both amateur and professional levels, practiced both at home and abroad to develop and improve, or simply represent the country. Association football is the most popular sport in Chile, and is played for a range of reasons. However, the country's most successful sport is tennis. In rural areas, Chilean rodeo is the most practiced sport in Chile, which is the national sport. Chile has achieved great international success in other sports, and there have been important figures, however, such exploits are not known to the general population because they are not sports that have been popular throughout the country.
Brazil was the host nation of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro from 5 to 21 August 2016. This was the nation's twenty-second appearance at the Summer Olympics, having competed in all editions in the modern era from 1920 onwards, except the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. Setting a milestone in Olympic history, Brazil became the first South American country to host the Summer Olympics, and the second Latin American host following the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico.
Gustavo Tsuboi is a table tennis player from Brazil, he won three medals in double and team events in the Pan American Games. Along with Hugo Hoyama and Thiago Monteiro, Tsuboi was part of the winning team at the 2007 Pan American Games and 2011 Pan American Games.
Guilherme Toldo is a Brazilian fencer. At the 2016 Summer Olympics he competed in the Men's foil, being defeated in the quarter-finals, obtaining the best male result in Brazil in fencing of all time.
Ana Carolina da Silva is a Brazilian indoor volleyball player. She plays as a Middle blocker and has been a member of the Brazil women's national volleyball team since 2014.
Hugo Marinho Borges Calderano is a Brazilian table tennis player. In January 2022, he peaked at number 3 in the world rankings, becoming the highest-ranked Americas player in history. By becoming the first table tennis player from the Americas to reach an Olympic semi-final, he returned to the world No. 3 position in August 2024.
In Brazilian football, G-12 refers to a group of 12 clubs: Atlético Mineiro, Botafogo, Corinthians, Cruzeiro, Flamengo, Fluminense, Grêmio, Internacional, Palmeiras, Santos, São Paulo, and Vasco da Gama. They are considered the most popular and successful sides in Brazilian football, having won all but six editions of the Brasileirão between them since the tournament's inception.
The history of football in Brazil began in 1895 through the English, as in most other countries. The first teams began to form during this period, but, as well as the foundation of the clubs, the practice was also restricted to the white elite. According to reports, the first football ball in the country was brought in 1894 by Charles William Miller. However, the oldest records of football in Brazil date back to 1875, in Curitiba. The aristocracy dominated the football leagues, while the sport was gaining popularity in the countryside. Blacks and the poorer sections of the population could only watch. It was only in the 1920s that blacks were accepted as the sport became more widespread, especially with professionalization in 1933.
Club de Regatas Vasco da Gama, commonly known as Vasco da Gama or simply Vasco, is a women's association football club based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Founded in 1987, the team has been inactive for periods prior to its most recent reinstatement in 2016. The team is affiliated with Federação de Futebol do Estado do Rio de Janeiro and play their home games at São Januário. The team colors, reflected in their logo and uniform, are white and black. They play in the third tier of women's football in Brazil, the Campeonato Brasileiro de Futebol Feminino Série A3, and in the Campeonato Carioca de Futebol Feminino, the traditional in-state competition.
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