Football in Brazil mirrors national turmoil as presidential election approaches, Jonathan Liew says
Jonathan Liew writes that the chaotic state of football in Brazil reflected a deeply divided nation as it headed into Sunday night’s presidential election, arguing the sport has become entwined with the country’s rancorous political climate.
Liew highlights a high-profile land dispute involving Flávio Bolsonaro and England forward Richarlison as an example of how politics and football have blurred. Richarlison says he purchased an island off the southern coast of Rio de Janeiro and that Bolsonaro tried to buy it; he added that a lawyer named Willer Tomaz “simply turned up and annexed it.” “These guys took the island without spending a penny, as far as I know,” Richarlison claimed in an Instagram video that has been viewed more than 31 million times. Tomaz has accused Richarlison of lying, arguing that he has a public deed registered at the notary’s office, and Bolsonaro has denied any connection, calling Richarlison’s intervention “politically motivated.” Renan Santos, a defeated presidential candidate, is quoted as saying “Brazil is now a dystopian place” and “People do not talk about public policy. They just create entertainment content about politics.”
The column describes how Jair Bolsonaro, Flávio’s father, sought to politicise the Brazil national shirt by wearing it at rallies, and names several players who allied themselves explicitly or tacitly to his cause: Neymar, Ronaldinho, Rivaldo, Dani Alves, Thiago Silva and Lucas Moura. Liew notes the wider appeal of the Bolsonaros within Brazil’s evangelical Christian community, from which “20 of the 26 players in Brazil’s World Cup squad this summer came.” He characterises that following as connected to neo‑Pentecostalism, “a highly commercialised brand of evangelism fuelled by 24‑hour TV preachers, megachurches and vast ostentatious displays of material wealth, in which the individual is cast as the architect of their own fate.”
The piece examines social and cultural attitudes among younger urban men who form part of the Bolsonaros’ base, saying they prefer entrepreneurialism and influencer clout to minimum wage increases or welfare programmes established by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Liew argues that in that mindset Neymar — described in the column as “currently whiling away the last of his fading light at Santos” — functions as an aspirational figure and notes that Neymar has publicly backed the younger Bolsonaro before this election.
Economic tensions around the sport are highlighted by Lula’s recent ban on sports betting, imposed last month, and by figures Liew cites on gambling and club sponsorship: an estimated 7% of the population are problem gamblers, and 14 of Brazil’s 20 top‑division clubs advertise online betting sites on their shirts. The column states that star players such as Neymar and Vinícius Júnior endorse gambling companies, and quotes Flamengo president Luiz Eduardo Baptista on a podcast asking, “How am I going to pay for [Lucas] Paquetá?” It also reports that Bolsonaro has criticised the ban and suggested he may be open to reversing it if elected.
Liew outlines structural concerns about Brazilian men’s football, writing that “by 2030 it will be 28 years since the men’s team won a World Cup,” that the country “still has no nationwide academy system or standardised youth development programme,” and that the national federation “has had eight leaders since 2012.” He describes the game as fragmented, with players dispersed internationally and the domestic game leaning toward a commercial, individualised model.
Voices of dissent within the football community are recorded: Raphinha has shared posts on workers’ rights and social justice, Richarlison has pledged that if he recovers the money he spent on the island he will donate a portion to the hospital in his home town of Nova Venécia, and former players Juninho Pernambucano and Rai have spoken out against the Bolsonaro family. The column also cites female players such as Carlinha and Tayla Carolina using their platforms to oppose the far right.
Brazil will host the Women’s World Cup next summer; Liew reports that Lula has sought to fast‑track the professionalisation of women’s football while saying Bolsonaro’s only public utterances in the field of women’s sport have been to assert his opposition to trans athletes playing it.
