ABSTRACT
The twentieth century was, for Brazil, the football century. Since it was first introduced, the ancient ‘British sport’ has undergone a true process of cultural incorporation. Football has now become what Brazilians refer to as ‘the national passion’, as if they hope to affirm that the game is now practically Brazilian property, that Brazilians were custom made for football, that not only is Brazilian football the best in the world but that nowhere else is football as loved as it is in Brazil. This depth of feeling is synthesised in the epithet ‘Brazil, the football country’, an expression consolidated not only in the national imagery but also abroad and especially in light of the country’s supremacy in World Cups, epitomized by four titles (1958, 1962, 1970 and 1994).
