No nation is as closely identified with the game of soccer as Brazil. For over a century, Brazil's people, politicians, and poets have found in soccer the finest expression of the nation's collective potential. Since the team's dazzling performance in 1938 at the World Cup in France, Brazilian soccer has been revered as an otherworldly blend of the effective and the aesthetic. Futebol Nation is an extraordinary chronicle of a nation that has won the World Cup five times and produced players of miraculous skill, such as Pel', Garrincha, Rivaldo, Zico, Ronaldo, and Ronaldinho. It shows why the phrase O Jogo Bonito -- the Beautiful Game -- has justly entered the global lexicon. Yet there is another side to Brazil and its game, one that reflects the harsh sociological realities of the "futebol nation." David Goldblatt explores the grinding poverty that creates a vast pool of hungry players, Brazil's corrupt institutions exemplified by its soccer authorities, and the pervasive violence that has seeped onto the field and into the stands. Futebol Nation illuminates both Brazilian soccer and Brazil itself; its brilliance, its magic, its style, and the fabulous myths that have been constructed around it; as well as its tragedies, its miseries, and its economic and political injustices. It is the story of Brazil told through its chosen national game.

The updated edition of Alex Bellos's modern classic about Brazilian football, published to coincide with the 2014 World Cup

Rio Pequeno is a village surviving from a destructive, drawn-out civil war, one that has left this little-known South American countrys federal infrastructure demolished. The villagers, in fearful memory of past atrocities and military reprisals, are playing reluctant hosts to an occupying company of battle-weary soldiers, who are seeking rest and reorganization. Amid a mix of hospitality and resentment, conflicts arise. Tensions arise, primarily between the tired company commander and the stubborn village priest, and lead to an inevitable and highly emotional confrontation overa game of futebol.

Through the lens of Brazil's trademark sport, reporter Alex Bellos brings us a fascinating portrait of Brazilian identity. When Brazil won the World Cup in 2002, the secret was out: the Brazilian soccer team is one of the modern wonders of the world. In this fascinating portrait of Brazilian identity, Alex Bellos brings to life not just a sport, but an entire country. With an unerring eye for a good story and a marvelous ear for the voices of the people he meets, Alex Bellos uncovers what Ronaldo called the "true truth" about Brazilian soccer.

Football (soccer in the United States) has a long history in the Americas, but it currently displays many signs of crisis. In South America the combination of spectator violence, poor business management, and the emigration of players is undermining professional football. In the United States, in contrast, a professional league (Major League Soccer) has taken root in the last decade, and the U.S. women's team has gained international success. Football has always provided its players and fans with identity and belonging, whether to a nation or to a particular social group. It has been both a vehicle for the politically ambitious and an arena in which citizens can make sense of national failings and contest existing power structures. This volume explores many of these themes. The fifteen essays range widely, with theoretical and empirical contributions on the region as whole, as well as chapters specifically on Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Mexico, and the United States.

No nation is as closely identified with the game of soccer as Brazil. For over a century, Brazil’s people, politicians, and poets have found in soccer the finest expression of the nation’s collective potential. Since the team’s dazzling performance in 1938 at the World Cup in France, Brazilian soccer has been revered as an otherworldly blend of the effective and the aesthetic. Futebol Nation is an extraordinary chronicle of a nation that has won the World Cup five times and produced players of miraculous skill, such as Pelé, Garrincha, Rivaldo, Zico, Ronaldo, and Ronaldinho. It shows why the phrase O Jogo Bonito—the Beautiful Game—has justly entered the global lexicon. Yet there is another side to Brazil and its game, one that reflects the harsh sociological realities of the “futebol nation.” David Goldblatt explores the grinding poverty that creates a vast pool of hungry players, Brazil’s corrupt institutions exemplified by its soccer authorities, and the pervasive violence that has seeped onto the field and into the stands. Futebol Nation illuminates both Brazilian soccer and Brazil itself; its brilliance, its magic, its style, and the fabulous myths that have been constructed around it; as well as its tragedies, its miseries, and its economic and political injustices. It is the story of Brazil told through its chosen national game.