Overview of sports traditions and activities 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, mixed martial arts, basketball, tennis, and motor sports, especially Formula ♣️ One, enjoy high levels of popularity.
Great players like Neymar have devoted their life to sports and became a celebrity.
Sports [ ♣️ edit ]
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.
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]
In beach soccer, Brazil is among the world's greatest powers, being the biggest ♣️ champion of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, with 5 titles.
In addition, it has nine world titles from the former ♣️ competition organized by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW), the Beach Soccer World Championships.[4]
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 [ edit ]
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 [ edit ]
Mixed martial arts is one of the most ♣️ popular sports in Brazil.
It is considered to be only behind football in terms in national popularity.[6]
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 (originating from Japan) 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, Murilo Bustamante, Junior dos Santos, Rafael dos Anjos, Fabricio Werdum, Lyoto Machida, Alex Pereira and Amanda Nunes.
[7][8][9][10]Volleyball ♣️ [ edit ]
Giba is the most popular volleyball player of Brazil.
Sheilla is considered one of the greatest players in the ♣️ country's history.
Brazil is the most successful country in volleyball.[11][12][13]
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.
Here is a record for achievements of the Brazilian men's volleyball team:Olympics:
Gold (1992, 2004, 2016)
Silver (1984, 2008, ♣️ 2012)World Championship:
Gold (2002, 2006, 2010)
Silver (1982, 2014, 2018)Bronze (2022)World Cup:
Gold (2003, 2007, 2019)
Gold (1993, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, ♣️ 2009, 2010)Gold (2021)
Gold (1997, 2005, 2009, 2013, 2017)
The Brazil women's national volleyball team is ranked number 4 in the FIVB ♣️ World Rankings.
Here is a record for achievements of the Brazilian women's volleyball team:Olympics:Gold (2008, 2012)Silver (2020)Bronze (1996, 2000)World Championship:
Silver (1994, ♣️ 2006, 2010, 2022)Bronze (2014)
Gold (1994, 1996, 1998, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2017)
Silver (2019, 2021, 2022)Gold (2005, 2013)
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.
Today, Brazil is the ruling ♣️ country in volleyball, and it is Brazil's second most popular sport.
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.
Beach Volleyball [ edit ]
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 ♣️ 2020 Olympic Games, the country had 2 golds, 3 silvers and 1 bronze in the men's modality, and 1 gold, ♣️ 4 silvers and 2 bronzes in the women's modality.
In world championships, Brazil has already won numerous titles.
[14]Basketball [ edit ]
Hortência ♣️ Marcari is one of Brazil's best basketball players.
Basketball is the third most popular sport in Brazil.
The Brazilian national basketball team ♣️ 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 three ♣️ Olympic bronze medals (1948, 1960, 1964) and total of nine medals at the FIBA Americas Championship, three gold (1984, 2005, ♣️ 2009) two silver (1988, 2001), and four bronze (1989, 1992, 1995, 1997).
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.[15][16]
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 2015–16 season-Leandro Barbosa, Bruno Caboclo, Cristiano Felício, Marcelo Huertas, Nenê, Raul Neto, Lucas Nogueira, Tiago Splitter, and Anderson Varejão.
[17] ♣️ On the women's side, players like Izi Castro Marques and Érika de Souza compete in the WNBA.
Motorsport [ edit ]
Autódromo ♣️ José Carlos Pace, venue for the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Ayrton Senna, the most successful Brazilian driver in Formula One.
Brazil has produced ♣️ three Formula One world champions: Emerson Fittipaldi (1972 and 1974), Nelson Piquet (1981, 1983 and 1987), and Ayrton Senna (1988, ♣️ 1990 and 1991).
In total, Brazilian drivers have won 101 Formula One races (as of the 2009 Italian Grand Prix), distributed ♣️ between Senna (41), Piquet (23), Fittipaldi (14), Felipe Massa (11), Rubens Barrichello (11), and José Carlos Pace (1).
In 1994, Brazil ♣️ declared three days of national mourning after Senna's death during the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.
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.
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 two 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 (later the Rio 200) 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 (twice, in 2004 and 2014), Oswaldo Negri (2012), Kanaan (2015) and Pipo Derani ♣️ (2016).
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 Brasil 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.
Tennis [ edit ]
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]
Brazil has also had other historically important players, such as Luiz Mattar, Fernando ♣️ Meligeni and Thomaz Bellucci, who were already top 30 in the ATP rankings.[19]
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 [ edit ]
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]
Today Brazil has one of the best swimmers in ♣️ the world, César Cielo, who is an Olympic champion, world champion and world record holder; olympic medalists like Thiago Pereira, ♣️ Bruno Fratus and Fernando Scheffer; swimmers like Felipe França and Kaio de Almeida who managed to beat world records in ♣️ their events, as well as medalists in World Championships, such as Nicholas Santos, João Gomes Júnior, Felipe Lima and Guilherme ♣️ Costa.
Even female swimming has been developing and creating athletes like Etiene Medeiros, Ana Marcela Cunha and Poliana Okimoto.
With the multiplication ♣️ of the emergence of talents, swimming has been standing out and conquering its space.
Brazil hosted the 1995 FINA World Swimming ♣️ Championships (25 m) and won the 2014 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m).
[24][25]Athletics [ edit ]
Fabiana Murer in 2011.
Athletics is ♣️ a traditional sport in Brazil, winning Olympic medals for the country.
In athletics, the best known athletes are Adhemar Ferreira da ♣️ Silva, João Carlos de Oliveira, Joaquim Cruz, Robson Caetano, Maurren Maggi and Fabiana Murer.
Other important athletes in the history of ♣️ Brazil are: Thiago Braz, Alison dos Santos, Nélson Prudêncio, Jadel Gregório, Zequinha Barbosa, Sanderlei Parrela, Claudinei Quirino , Vicente de ♣️ Lima, André Domingos, Édson Ribeiro, Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima, Caio Bonfim, Rosângela Santos, Letícia Oro Melo, Mauro Vinícius da Silva ♣️ and Darlan Romani.[26][27][28]
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.
Judo [ edit ♣️ ]
Judo is another sport usually recommended for children in Brazil, and therefore it is widely practiced.
The country has a growing ♣️ international tradition in the sport, constantly winning medals and titles.
The sport was brought and developed by its large Japanese community.
The ♣️ greatest exponents of the sport until today were Aurélio Miguel, Sarah Menezes and Rogério Sampaio, Olympic champions.
Brazil also had several ♣️ other important judô athletes, such as the Olympic runners-up Douglas Vieira, Tiago Camilo, Carlos Honorato, and the Olympic bronze medalists ♣️ Chiaki Ishii, Luiz Onmura, Walter Carmona, Henrique Guimarães, Leandro Guilheiro, Flávio Canto, Ketleyn Quadros, Felipe Kitadai, Mayra Aguiar, Daniel Cargnin ♣️ and Rafael Silva.
[29][30][31]Handball [ edit ]
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.[32][33]
Beach ♣️ handball [ edit ]
At the Beach Handball World Championships Brazil has more titles for both genders than any country.[34]Boxing [ ♣️ edit ]
Boxing is another popular sport, especially in Northeast Brazil; it's considered a sport of the working class.
Eder Jofre, Acelino ♣️ Freitas, Maguila, Miguel de Oliveira, Valdemir Pereira, Rose Volante and Patrick Teixeira are former world champions.
In the Olympics, Brazil won ♣️ the gold medal in the category of up to 60 kg with the fighter Robson Conceição, being the first Olympic ♣️ gold in Brazilian boxing.
Hebert Conceição was also an Olympic champion.
Other Olympic medalists in Brazil were Servílio de Oliveira, Yamaguchi Falcão, ♣️ Esquiva Falcão, Abner Teixeira, Adriana Araújo and Beatriz Ferreira.
Another famous boxer in Brazil was Maguila, a heavyweight who came to ♣️ face Evander Holyfield and George Foreman.[35][36]
Skateboarding [ edit ]
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).
[37] ♣️ 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.[38]
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.
[39]Surfing [ edit ]
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.[40][41]
Yachting and Equestrianism [ edit ]
Despite yachting and equestrianism being inaccessible sports for the general population, Brazil has a ♣️ great tradition in yachting, and, to a lesser extent, but no less important, tradition in equestrianism.
The biggest center for these ♣️ sports in Brazil is Rio de Janeiro and its neighboring city Niterói.
Several Olympic medalists in yachting have trained in Guanabara ♣️ Bay, such as Martine Grael, Clinio Freitas, Daniel Adler, Eduardo Penido, Isabel Swan, Kiko Pellicano, Marcelo Ferreira, Marcos Soares, Nelson ♣️ Falcão and Ronaldo Senfft.
The country also has olympic medalists from São Paulo Robert Scheidt, Torben Grael, Kahena Kunze, Reinaldo Conrad, ♣️ Alexandre Welter, Bruno Prada and Peter Ficker.
In equestrianism, the Gávea Hippodrome trained athletes such as Rodrigo Pessoa and his father ♣️ Nelson Pessoa, as well as Luiz Felipe de Azevedo; the country also has olympic medalists from São Paulo Álvaro de ♣️ Miranda Neto and from Rio Grande do Sul André Johannpeter.[42]Chess [ edit ]
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.
[43] The match received worldwide attention as Carlsen broadcast it live, and was left speechless after ♣️ his defeat.
[44] In April 2021, Chess.
com awarded that game the first spot in their Chess.
com Immortal Game Contest.[45][46][47]
Table tennis [ ♣️ edit ]
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 and ♣️ Bruna Takahashi.
[48][49]Taekwondo [ edit ]
In taekwondo, Brazilian Natália Falavigna was a bronze medalist at the Olympic Games in 2008 and ♣️ 4th place in 2004.
Maicon Siqueira won bronze in 2016.
Diogo Silva finished 4th in 2004 and 2012, and Milena Titoneli finished ♣️ 4th in 2020.
[50]Gymnastics [ edit ]
Brazil has a large training center for Olympic athletes in artistic gymnastics, which has already ♣️ revealed athletes such as Rebeca Andrade, Arthur Zanetti, Daiane dos Santos, Jade Barbosa, Arthur Mariano, Diego Hypólito and Daniele Hypólito.
[51] ♣️ In rhythmic gymnastics, the Brazilian team won an unprecedented bronze in the general event of the Athens, Greece stage of ♣️ the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup, held in March 2023.[52]
Modern pentathlon [ edit ]
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.
[53]Canoeing [ edit ]
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.
[54][55]Archery [ edit ♣️ ]
Marcus Vinicius D'Almeida, in the recurve bow category, is the greatest male archery athlete in the history of South America, ♣️ having been number 1 in the world in 2023, and world runner-up in 2021.
Ane Marcelle dos Santos went to the ♣️ 3nd round of the 2016 Olympic Games.
[56][57]Fencing [ edit ]
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.[58]Diving [ edit ]
Brazil also does not have ♣️ a long tradition in diving, but work carried out over the decades allowed the emergence of some high-level athletes.
The most ♣️ relevant so far are Ingrid de Oliveira, who finished 4th at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships, César Castro, 5th place ♣️ on the 3-meter springboard at the 2009 Worlds, and Juliana Veloso, 10th place on the platform in 2001.[59]Hockey [ edit ♣️ ]
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.
Cairo Santos is the first Brazilian ♣️ born player in NFL history.
American football is played by young people in some states.
The most popular varieties are flag football ♣️ (especially in São Paulo) and beach American football (played in coastal cities such as Rio de Janeiro, Recife and João ♣️ Pessoa).
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 union [ edit ]
Lobo Bravo, a Brazilian rugby team.
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.
[60] As of 2016, rugby was played by ♣️ about 60,000 Brazilians and has experienced sizeable growth in the country.[61]
Rugby league [ edit ]
Rugby league has been played in ♣️ Brazil in the 2010s, and has developed a small but growing domestic presence.
The Brazilian national team will compete in the ♣️ 2022 South American Rugby League Championship, their first major international tournament, which is part of the qualifying process for the ♣️ 2025 World Cup.
The Brazil women's national rugby league team was successful in qualifying for and participated in the 2021 Women's ♣️ World Cup.
Baseball [ edit ]
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.
[62][63] 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 National team appeared in the 2013 World Baseball Classic.
Paulo Orlando and Yan Gomes are the only ♣️ Brazilians to win the World Series.
Other sports in Brazil [ edit ]
In horse racing, Silvestre de Sousa was the British ♣️ flat racing Champion Jockey in 2015.
The Brazilian-bred horse Glória de Campeão won the Dubai World Cup, then the world's richest ♣️ Thoroughbred race, in 2010 with Brazilian jockey T.J.Pereira aboard.
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[64] 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.
Cricket has a burgeoning Brazilian women's national team, who won the ♣️ 2018 South American Women's Cricket Championship.
See Cricket in Brazil.
Brazil at the Olympics [ edit ]
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.
Sports in media [ edit ]
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.
In motorsport, the ♣️ main national competitions are Stock Car Brasil and Fórmula Truck.
Formula One is considered the second most watched sport in terms ♣️ of TV audience, behind football.
The IndyCar Series also has a good fanbase in Brazil.
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.
Both men and women's volleyball enjoy very good viewing figures, especially the Brazilian national volleyball teams, Superliga and beach ♣️ volleyball matches.
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.
In recent years, American football has been gaining fast popularity, with NFL games guaranteeing an audience on ♣️ ESPN Brasil and Esporte Interativo.
Also, some Torneio Touchdown (Brazilian League) games are shown by BandSports.
[65] In 2016, the two main ♣️ leagues merged into the Superliga Nacional.
Curling was the latest sporting phenomenon in Brazil in terms of audience.
During the 2013 World ♣️ Women's Curling Championship, held in late March in Canada, about 3.
6 million people watched the channel SporTV, leading audiences among ♣️ sports channels on pay TV.
The audience was even greater during the men's worlds that year.
[66]Gallery [ edit ]
Competitions hosted by ♣️ Brazil [ edit ]
Some of the most important sports competitions hosted by the country were:[67][68][69][70]
Competitions hosted annually:
Discontinued events:See also [ ♣️ edit ]
