ABSTRACT
In June of 1994, the Brazilian national team won the quadrennial football World Cup. The World Cup finals – the most important and prestigious international football competition – have been held since 1930, with an interruption only during the Second World War. Although this was the fourth time a Brazilian national selection had earned the coveted trophy, 24 years had passed since Brazil’s previous triumph. After the period between 1958 and 1970, when Brazilian teams won three of four World Cups held, Brazil had brought together teams which were often widely respected, yet none had done better than reach third place in the finals. For a substantial portion of the Brazilian population – indeed for an entire generation – the 1994 triumph was the first World Cup victory they had witnessed.
