Classroom lesson · Football · 🇧🇷 Brazil

Football in Brazil

Five-time World Cup winners - and a country that plays barefoot on the beach

The Maracanã stadium in Rio de Janeiro lit up at night for a football match

Photo · Wikimedia Commons

What is it?

Brazil has won the men's football World Cup five times - more than any other country. Football is so popular there that kids play it everywhere: on streets, on beaches, in school yards, often barefoot. The Brazilian word for football is 'futebol'.

Tell me more

The World Cup is the biggest football tournament on the planet. It happens every four years. Brazil's national team plays in bright yellow shirts and is so famous that most people on Earth would recognise the kit. Their nickname is the 'Seleção' (which just means 'the Selection').

Brazil has produced some of the most famous footballers ever. Pelé scored over 1,000 goals in his career and is often called the greatest player of all time. Other Brazilian legends include Garrincha, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Marta (one of the best women's players in history) and Neymar.

Beach football is its own version of the game, played on sand with bare feet and no shoes. Brazilians are world champions at it. The sand makes the ball harder to control, which is part of why Brazilian players are famous for their tricky footwork on grass too.

The biggest stadium in Brazil is the Maracanã, in Rio de Janeiro. When it first opened it held nearly 200,000 fans - more than any stadium ever built. Brazilian fans are known for singing, dancing and drumming through every match, no matter what the score is.

In the classroom

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Talk together

Discussion prompts

  1. 01Why might playing on sand, with no shoes, make someone better with a football on grass?
  2. 02Football is the most-played sport on Earth. Why do you think this one game has spread to so many countries?
  3. 03What is a sport you would happily play every day if you could? What is it about that sport?
Try this

Classroom activity

Have a 'Brazilian beach football' moment in the playground. With shoes off (if it's safe), play short three-a-side games on grass with a soft ball. Try doing one trick each before passing. Was it easier or harder than usual?