Sport in Brazil


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, basketball, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, mixed martial arts, tennis, and motor sports, especially Formula One, enjoy high levels of popularity.

Sports

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, 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. 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.

Attendances

The average attendance per top-flight football league season and the club with the highest average attendance:
SeasonLeague averageBest clubBest club average
202526,222Flamengo58,732
202426,489Flamengo54,337
202326,883Flamengo57,984
202326,883Flamengo57,984
202221,522Flamengo54,487
201921,236Flamengo55,025
201818,821Flamengo47,139
201716,418Corinthians40,043
201615,736Palmeiras32,684
201517,557Corinthians34,256
201416,912Cruzeiro30,015
201315,889Cruzeiro29,315
201212,983Grêmio25,845
201114,600Corinthians29,487
201014,839Corinthians27,449
200917,995Flamengo41,534
200818,286Flamengo41,140
200717,846Flamengo41,173
200617,714Grêmio29,380

Sources:

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.
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, where Brazil was world champion twice. Brazil is the biggest champion of the FIFA Futsal World Cup, with 6 titles. Falcão is the most renowned male Brazilian player.
In beach soccer, Brazil is among the world's greatest powers, being the biggest champion of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, with 6 titles. In addition, it has nine world titles from the former competition organized by Beach Soccer Worldwide, the Beach Soccer World Championships.
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.

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

is one of the most popular sports in Brazil. It is considered to be only behind football in terms of national popularity.
Brazilian jiu-jitsu originated in Brazil in the 1910s, and emphasizes ground fighting techniques and submission holds involving joint-locks and chokeholds. Hélio Gracie had a rather small build and changed jiu-jitsu to be used by anyone in a real fight situation. The belt progression system goes in the following order: White, Blue, Purple, Brown, Black, Red-black, and Red. Gracie Jiu Jitsu became known internationally in the 1990s, due to the very skilled fighters in the Gracie family, namely Hélio Gracie, Royce Gracie, and Rickson Gracie, which are also responsible for spreading the practice of vale tudo, meaning "anything goes", which evolved into mixed martial arts tournaments such as PRIDE, DREAM, and the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Many Brazilian fighters have become significant figures in various mixed martial art tournaments abroad, some notable Brazilian fighters in these tournaments include Anderson Silva, Wanderlei Silva, Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira, Vitor Belfort, Mauricio Rua, José Aldo, Charles Oliveira, Murilo Bustamante, Junior dos Santos, Rafael dos Anjos, Fabricio Werdum, Lyoto Machida, Alex Pereira and Amanda Nunes.

Volleyball

Brazil is the most successful country in volleyball and it is Brazil's second most popular sport.
The Brazil men's national volleyball team is currently the champion in 3 competitions, the Volleyball World Cup, the Volleyball World Championship and the Olympic Volleyball Tournament, and is ranked number 1 in the FIVB World Rankings
The Brazil women's national volleyball team is ranked number 4 in the FIVB World Rankings.
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.

Men's national volleyball team">Brazil men's national volleyball team">Men's national volleyball team achievements

Women's national volleyball team">Brazil women's national volleyball team">Women's national volleyball team achievements

Beach Volleyball

Brazil is one of the strongest countries in the world in beach volleyball, a sport widely practiced in the country due to its long coastline, mainly in Rio de Janeiro, on the coast of Santa Catarina, and in the Northeast Region of the country. Until the 2024 Olympic Games, the country had 2 golds, 3 silvers and 1 bronze in the men's modality, and 2 golds, 4 silvers and 2 bronzes in the women's modality. In world championships, Brazil has already won numerous titles.

Basketball

is the third most popular sport in Brazil. The Brazil men's national basketball team won three Olympic bronze medals, in 1948, 1960 and 1964, and has won the Basketball World Championship twice, in 1959 and 1963. They have also been runners-up on two occasions in 1954 and 1970, as well as coming third on two occasions in 1967 and 1978, meaning that the Brazilian national basketball team has won in total six medals at the Basketball World Championship. The Brazilian national basketball team has also won a total of nine medals at the FIBA Americas Championship, three gold two silver, and four bronze. The Brazil women's national basketball team was Olympic runner-up in 1996 and bronze medalist in 2000, in addition to being world champion in 1994 and bronze in 1971. Oscar Schmidt is the most renowned male Brazilian player, and Hortência Marcari the most renowned female. Both were inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the FIBA Hall of Fame.
The major basketball leagues are called Novo Basquete Brasil – the men's tournament – and Liga de Basquete Feminino – the female tournament. Various famous Brazilian players play in those leagues. In addition, on the men's side, various players are competing in the National Basketball Association and European leagues. A record nine Brazilians were on NBA rosters at the start of the —Leandro Barbosa, Bruno Caboclo, Cristiano Felício, Marcelo Huertas, Nenê, Raul Neto, Lucas Nogueira, Tiago Splitter, and Anderson Varejão.

Motorsport

Brazil has produced three Formula One world champions: Emerson Fittipaldi, Nelson Piquet, and Ayrton Senna. In total, Brazilian drivers have won 101 Formula One races, distributed between Senna, Piquet, Fittipaldi, Felipe Massa, Rubens Barrichello, and José Carlos Pace.
In, Brazil declared three days of national mourning after Senna's death during the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.
From Emerson Fittipaldi's debut in to Felipe Massa's retirement in, there were 48 consecutive Formula One seasons with at least one Brazilian driver. As of the season, Massa is the last Brazilian driver to have competed full-time in Formula One. However, Gabriel Bortoleto is set to join the grid in the season.
The Brazilian Grand Prix has been on the Formula One calendar since, 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.
Brazil has produced several notable drivers in American open-wheel car racing, some of whom also competed in Formula One. Emerson Fittipaldi was the 1989 CART champion, Gil de Ferran was the 2000 CART and 2001 CART champion, Cristiano da Matta was the 2002 CART champion and the Tony Kanaan was 2004 IndyCar Series champion. Brazilian drivers have won the Indianapolis 500, the most prestigious race in American open-wheel racing, eight times: Emerson Fittipaldi in 1989 and 1993; Hélio Castroneves in 2001, 2002, 2009 and 2021; Gil de Ferran in 2003; and Tony Kanaan in 2013. Castroneves is one of only four drivers that have won the Indianapolis 500 four times, and the only one from a country other than the United States. Two American open-wheel races have been held in Brazil: CART hosted the Rio 400 at Jacarepagua from 1996 to 2000, and the IndyCar Series hosted the São Paulo Indy 300 from 2010 to 2013.
In the sports car racing scene, Raul Boesel won the 1987 World Sportscar Championship and got close to winning the 1991 Le Mans 24 Hours, when he was second, and Ricardo Zonta won the 1998 FIA GT Championship. Boesel was part of the winning team at the 1988 Daytona 24 Hours, a race which was also won by fellow Brazilians Christian Fittipaldi, Oswaldo Negri, Kanaan and Pipo Derani. Fittipaldi also won the United SportsCar Championship in 2014 and 2015, alongside Portuguese team-mate João Barbosa. Also the Mil Milhas Brasil, an endurance race, has the longest history in the Brazilian racing events.
Nelson Piquet Jr. was the inaugural Formula E champion in 2014-15 and Lucas Di Grassi won 2016-17 with Audi Abt Sportsline.
The popularity of auto racing is rising, with the Stock Car Pro Series and Fórmula Truck being broadcast nationally. The South American Formula Three series was mostly held in Brazil until 2013, and developed several South American circuit drivers. In 2014 it was succeeded by a revived Brazilian Formula Three Championship.
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.