Brazil is the spiritual home of football. It is a country renowned for producing some of the finest footballers ever to grace the planet. Pelè, Ronaldo, Cafu, Rivaldo, Rivelino, Roberto Carlos, Tostão and many others all hail from the same nation. Despite being one of the powerhouses of international football, there league can simply not compete with the obscenely rich European leagues and clubs. This meant that many Brazilian youngsters were prized away from their home country by European clubs offering lucrative contracts at very young ages. But I believe this has changed and that the league is on it’s road to recovery.
In the early days of international football, the days of Garrincha, Nilton Santos and Pelè, it was rare to see a Brazilian overseas, in fact, all the players listed above spent their entire careers in their homeland and a host of others did too. The government, in order to wave away offers from prestigious European clubs such as Real Madrid and Juventus, made wonderboy Pelè a national treasure. Brazilian football benefited from this, as many national squad members were teammates, as they won two consecutive World Cups in 1958 and 1962, firmly solidifying their status as the world’s finest team.
Then approached the next era of Brazilian football. From the start of the 1990’s and the early 2000’s Brazil kept on churning out the earth’s next biggest superstar. Roberto Carlos, Cafu, Rivaldo, Ronaldo, Dida and the list never ends. Such a strong squad coupled with the experienced players like Bebeto won the World Cups of 1994 and 2002, making Brazil the most successful team in the history of the World Cup, as the triumph in Korea and Japan was their fifth overall, more than any other team.
The league at this time was competing strongly. Players stayed longer in their native land before scooting off to Europe with a bumper pay-rise. Roberto Carlos was at Palmeiras until 22, Rivaldo left at the age of 24 and Cafu spend five years playing for São Paulo before being snapped up by Zaragoza. Despite leaving Brazil later than usual, Roberto Carlos and Cafu are the two top record appearance holders and Rivaldo scored 34 goals for the national side. I know technically the ages above are quite young, but in today’s game players must make the most of their career, and staying in Brazil until 24 is actually quite a long time.
It was midway through the first decade of the new millennium when the trend changed. Lots of hot prospects were whipped away to Europe while still in their teenage years. Ronaldo, despite having a hugely successful career, only spent a season at Cruzeiro before PSV signed him up. This same trend continued until very recently, when Eastern European clubs would snatch the youngsters for a mere compensation fee. Paulinho was signed by Lithuanian side FC Vilnius at 17. Oscar of Chelsea, Bernard and Wellington Nem of Shahktar all left their respective clubs in their teens. This may definitely be good for their careers, as they get a taster of European football, a contract to build their lives around and many other things – but what it does is hurt the national league. For many years in their 2000’s the league relied on below par players or returning veterans, and didn't manage to keep many of its starlets into adulthood.
The league suffered and suffered. It’s reputation tarnished, it’s quality diminished and it’s support invisible. For many fans, it was no longer a league worthy of a country as powerful in the football world as Brazil. But there was one man who changed it. Neymar. The Santos wonderboy, who was being compared to his country’s footballing king Pelè, grabbed the attention of several of Europe’s heavyweights. Several offers were made, most from Spanish side Real Madrid. But all of those were rejected, and Neymar continued his footballing development at his current club. Whilst Neymar flourished in his home country, it gave faith to many other clubs that they could keep their starlets, and attract bigger names. In the summer of 2011, one of football’s biggest icons Ronaldinho completed negotiations to Rio based club Flamengo. This was a big step for Brazilian football and Flamengo’s rivals Botafogo – helped by sponsor Puma – lured Dutch legend Clarence Seedorf to the Enghenão. This was the turning point, and put belief back into the football fans of the nation. Fans came back, belief came back and most of all: the quality came back.
Neymar has since moved to Barcelona, but Ronaldinho, now of Atletico Mineiro in Brazil, has put in some great performances, leading his side to the Copa Libertadores which is the South American equivalent of the Champions League. The previous year’s winner, Brazilian side Corinthians, beat Chelsea in the Club World Cup final and Seedorf and Botafogo have had a fantastic season. Now that the Brasilerao is slowly and steadily coming back to life, could this have an impact on Brazil’s World Cup performance. The support will be a lot better from the fans, a lot of players are based in the country which could provide a significant boost and most of all they have a manager who has done it before: Luiz Felipe Scolari. The Brasilerao is a league I follow a lot and there is some reassuring and encouraging signs coming out of the country.
In the early days of international football, the days of Garrincha, Nilton Santos and Pelè, it was rare to see a Brazilian overseas, in fact, all the players listed above spent their entire careers in their homeland and a host of others did too. The government, in order to wave away offers from prestigious European clubs such as Real Madrid and Juventus, made wonderboy Pelè a national treasure. Brazilian football benefited from this, as many national squad members were teammates, as they won two consecutive World Cups in 1958 and 1962, firmly solidifying their status as the world’s finest team.
Then approached the next era of Brazilian football. From the start of the 1990’s and the early 2000’s Brazil kept on churning out the earth’s next biggest superstar. Roberto Carlos, Cafu, Rivaldo, Ronaldo, Dida and the list never ends. Such a strong squad coupled with the experienced players like Bebeto won the World Cups of 1994 and 2002, making Brazil the most successful team in the history of the World Cup, as the triumph in Korea and Japan was their fifth overall, more than any other team.
The league at this time was competing strongly. Players stayed longer in their native land before scooting off to Europe with a bumper pay-rise. Roberto Carlos was at Palmeiras until 22, Rivaldo left at the age of 24 and Cafu spend five years playing for São Paulo before being snapped up by Zaragoza. Despite leaving Brazil later than usual, Roberto Carlos and Cafu are the two top record appearance holders and Rivaldo scored 34 goals for the national side. I know technically the ages above are quite young, but in today’s game players must make the most of their career, and staying in Brazil until 24 is actually quite a long time.
It was midway through the first decade of the new millennium when the trend changed. Lots of hot prospects were whipped away to Europe while still in their teenage years. Ronaldo, despite having a hugely successful career, only spent a season at Cruzeiro before PSV signed him up. This same trend continued until very recently, when Eastern European clubs would snatch the youngsters for a mere compensation fee. Paulinho was signed by Lithuanian side FC Vilnius at 17. Oscar of Chelsea, Bernard and Wellington Nem of Shahktar all left their respective clubs in their teens. This may definitely be good for their careers, as they get a taster of European football, a contract to build their lives around and many other things – but what it does is hurt the national league. For many years in their 2000’s the league relied on below par players or returning veterans, and didn't manage to keep many of its starlets into adulthood.
The league suffered and suffered. It’s reputation tarnished, it’s quality diminished and it’s support invisible. For many fans, it was no longer a league worthy of a country as powerful in the football world as Brazil. But there was one man who changed it. Neymar. The Santos wonderboy, who was being compared to his country’s footballing king Pelè, grabbed the attention of several of Europe’s heavyweights. Several offers were made, most from Spanish side Real Madrid. But all of those were rejected, and Neymar continued his footballing development at his current club. Whilst Neymar flourished in his home country, it gave faith to many other clubs that they could keep their starlets, and attract bigger names. In the summer of 2011, one of football’s biggest icons Ronaldinho completed negotiations to Rio based club Flamengo. This was a big step for Brazilian football and Flamengo’s rivals Botafogo – helped by sponsor Puma – lured Dutch legend Clarence Seedorf to the Enghenão. This was the turning point, and put belief back into the football fans of the nation. Fans came back, belief came back and most of all: the quality came back.
Neymar has since moved to Barcelona, but Ronaldinho, now of Atletico Mineiro in Brazil, has put in some great performances, leading his side to the Copa Libertadores which is the South American equivalent of the Champions League. The previous year’s winner, Brazilian side Corinthians, beat Chelsea in the Club World Cup final and Seedorf and Botafogo have had a fantastic season. Now that the Brasilerao is slowly and steadily coming back to life, could this have an impact on Brazil’s World Cup performance. The support will be a lot better from the fans, a lot of players are based in the country which could provide a significant boost and most of all they have a manager who has done it before: Luiz Felipe Scolari. The Brasilerao is a league I follow a lot and there is some reassuring and encouraging signs coming out of the country.