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.[1]
Some clubs, mainly outside the Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo axis, still resisted modernization and remained amateur. However, as time went by, almost all of them became adapted to the new reality. Several traditional and established clubs abandoned the elite of the football, or even the sport altogether.[1]
During the governments, especially Vargas, a great effort was made to promote football in the country. The construction of the Maracanã and the World Cup in Brazil (1950), for example, happened during the Vargas era.[2] The victory in the 1958 World Cup, with a team led by blacks Didi and Pelé, mixed-race Vavá and Garrincha and captain Bellini, established football as the main element of national identification, gathering people of all colors, social conditions, creeds and different regions of the country.[3]
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