ABSTRACT
Since the early twentieth century, women and men of various races have played soccer recreationally. Up until the 1920s, the involvement of working class and non-white men in the top Brazilian leagues was heavily contested, while women were entirely excluded, placing Afro-Brazilians and women in parallel marginal positions with respect to the top flight of soccer in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Mário Filho's O negro no futebol brasileiro tells the story of how black soccer players struggled to break through the unofficial color line in the sport in Brazil, consolidating their position by the time the sport was professionalized in the 1930s. Women in this history, however, are not represented as players and are primarily represented as fans in the stands, or playing supporting roles to their husbands, from team presidents to coaches.
