by Rob Smyth
Yellow Jersey Press, £9.99
Reviewed by Paul Rees
From WSC 379, September 2018
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Search: 'Botafogo'
Stories
Robert Shaw looks at how Brazilian football still has racial issues to resolve, especially once a footballer’s playing career has ended
Botafogo striker Sebastián Abreu put on odd boots – one white, one back – for the club’s derby with Flamengo in the Carioca (Rio state) championship on April 10, while another Rio club, Vasco da Gama, recently launched a shirt with a message on the collar about “democracy and inclusion”.
The biggest problem for the Brazilian champions is how to sustain their recent success. Robert Shaw reports
Fluminense’s Brazilian National Championship success in 2010 was a remarkable turnaround by any standards. In October 2009 the club was reckoned to be heading for Serie B but a spectacular series of victories saved them, creating the platform for a tilt at the top in 2010. Following the end of the season in December the Brazilian FA (CBF) revised the status of previous championships, so Fluminense were also declared “national champions” for 1970 (the national competition only started officially in 1971).
While some stadiums are shut, others are furiously debated. Robert Shaw reports on problematic preparations for 2014
With the Homeless World Cup played in September in Brazil some of the country’s clubs might have felt entitled to stage their own version. The stadium-building and renovation programme for the 2014 World Cup has already left several clubs without a home ground as work begins in earnest to prepare the 12 venues.
Hard-up clubs are establishing partnerships with other businesses in order to make ends meet. Robert Shaw reports
The lucrative business of representing and trading Brazilian players is no longer the exclusive preserve of a motley assortment of ex-players and wide boys. These days investment funds and a range of businesses, including supermarkets, are moving in.