ABSTRACT
Beach soccer has been a part of life in Copacabana since the 1920s. In the 1990s it undertook something of a metamorphosis. Where those changes are documented elsewhere in this text (see Chapters 3 and 5), this chapter focuses on the period between 1923 and 1994. In reviewing and synthesising materials from a diverse range of archival, academic, and historical sources, this chapter presents a narrative account of Brazilian beach soccer histories between its origin and its emergence as a commercial entity. It contextualises the sport with a review of those histories related to women's and men's football, then outlines and examines key developments in the beach soccer's evolution from street game to televisual spectacle.
