São Paulo draw 1-1 with Corinthians at Morumbi as players link final to Brazil’s presidential vote
São Paulo drew 1-1 with Corinthians in the second leg of the Brazilian Women’s Championship final at the Estádio do Morumbi the day before the first round of Brazil’s presidential elections, winning 3-2 on aggregate to secure the Brasileirão Women’s title. After the match goalkeeper Carlinha told a record TV audience of 23 million: “Never again Bolsonaro in power.”
Carlinha has spoken publicly about losing her grandmother during the Covid-19 pandemic and criticised the former president Jair Bolsonaro for spreading what the article describes as fake information about the virus and ignoring calls to buy and distribute vaccinations; the piece notes more than 700,000 Brazilians died during the pandemic. Her longer comment to Moving the Goalposts was: “I didn’t just think of [my grandmother] when I gave that interview, I think about her and miss her every single day,” followed by: “I felt relieved after talking about my personal opinion in such an important moment of Brazilian democracy. I’m a journalism student and I know the impact if the right wins the elections.” The story places these remarks amid a contest in which Flávio Bolsonaro is standing against incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and in which Jair Bolsonaro is reported to be under “humanitarian house arrest”, serving a 27-year sentence for a coup attempt.
The article describes several female players using social media and their visibility during the campaign; it highlights Tayla Carolina’s viral account of her family’s background and the impact of public policies. In her post Tayla wrote: “I’m from a very humble family, I’m a Black woman. I’ve studied in public schools and used the national healthcare system … my mum, dona Dora, worked for over a decade for someone who never paid her labour rights … and she worked until she couldn’t walk any more due to the cancer that took her from us. She never saw me play because she never had the time, she never rested.” The piece links her message to recent political developments, saying her story “resonates with many Brazilians who fought for shorter working weeks, approved earlier this week in congress.”
A new Fifpro study cited in the article found nearly half of female football players think of early retirement because of psychological and financial pressures; 800 professional players took part in that research. The report is set against Brazil hosting the Women’s World Cup next year and the article notes President Lula approved a World Cup law in June 2026 that, it says, lays out a legacy plan divided into four strands: supporting access and permanence of girls and women in football, developing and professionalising the game, fighting gender- and racial-based discrimination, and enhancing the economic and cultural aspects of women’s football in Brazil. Tayla is quoted as saying: “We still need government incentives, so it may not be immediate, but the game will be affected, positively or negatively, depending on how the elections go.”
The piece contrasts Lula’s law with the Bolsonaro campaign’s proposals for women’s sport, quoting that platform as calling for “ensuring that women’s categories, from youth to elite, are played by athletes of the female sex, protecting women and tournaments from ideological agendas”. It also addresses the broader politicisation of Brazilian football, noting that in the men’s game the far-right is often championed by the Santos and Brazil forward Neymar, who has showed support for the Bolsonaro family on many occasions, while Tottenham’s Richarlison is described as “positioned on the left” and is quoted as accusing Flávio Bolsonaro of “taking possession” of an island. The article states female players do not have the same number of followers on social media and concludes that “the result of the election is likely to have more of an impact on the women’s game than on the men’s.”
Kely Nascimento, identified as founder and executive director of the Nascimento Foundation and the daughter of the late footballer Pelé, is quoted at length: “Female players, female athletes, they don’t have the protection of wealth. What feeds the brilliance of Brazilian football are the players, and they mostly come from communities, favelas and other places that are going to be hugely affected by these elections. Women are more affected by all this, right?” The article also records that Carlinha played in one of two recent friendlies against Argentina, and that at both the Porto Alegre and Recife stadiums the crowd predominantly chanted in support of Lula, audible over television commentary.
Brazilian women’s football historian Aira Bonfim is quoted on the sport’s political history: “This is a hundred-year-old history, because we have episodes of women playing football in Brazil since 1915, and the women’s game reveals different perspectives of gender inequalities, racial inequalities, class, territory, which will affect the progress of the women’s game.” Bonfim’s research is said to have inspired a short film, The House of Dona Carlota, produced by Mymama Entertainment and directed by Lili Fialho and Bruna Linzmeyer, about a woman arrested for leading a team, Primavera Atlético Clube, and the piece recalls the historical ban on the women’s game “[between 1941 and 1979].” She is further quoted: “What’s at risk [in this election] is a waste of all of the human investments in building social legacy plans. There is also the risk of dismantling all political communication that has been done to support [the World Cup] through the ministries, cities and state governments. If you elect someone who did not make any commitments towards it, who did not commit to the World Cup or what it represents to women, it can be a huge loss.” The article adds: “Just the fact that during Jair Bolsonaro’s government he removed the status of the ministry of sports reveals how he feels about the sector.”
There are many reasons, the article concludes, for the international community to look closely at the second round of Brazil’s elections on Sunday, from how it can affect climate change, foreign policy and financial markets to many other issues; “Women’s football, and all it represents, is one of them.”