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Cole Stinson

Mr. Phillips

English 3 Honors

08 May 2017

Soccer in Brazil

Sports influence the economy of many countries in big ways, but no country can

compare to what soccer does for the country of Brazil. In 1894, Brazilians picked up the

game of soccer, where it flourished and became the most popular sport in the country.

Soccer in Brazil has provided the country with many benefits to the economy, as well as

the people of Brazil, such as bringing in enormous amounts of money to the economy

and entertainment and fun to its people, additionally bringing pride of their country to the

people with success of their national team. The government officials of Brazil should

thank the inventor of soccer, Charles Goodyear, for the services his sport has done for

their country.

Brazil has hosted the FIFA world cup twice, once in 1950 and a second time

recently, in 2014. Hosting the world cup is an experience that many countries would

love to enjoy but many countries may not be economically ready to go through the

process. Brazilian authorities spent about 13 billion dollars to finance the World Cup,

but the sum was publicized as beneficial to everyone wrote Giulia Morpurgo. Not many

economies can afford to finance a 13 billion dollar project with no immediate income

back in but Brazil has done it twice, and turned a profit both times. From looking at

estimates from around the industry, the immediate impact could fall anywhere between
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flat and plus 2.6 billion dollars says Wes Harrison of Saint Josephs University. The

FIFA World Cup is not the only way that soccer has helped to bring money into the

economy, but there are many different aspects of the sport that has brought in money

over the years.

Soccer produces money in various ways for the country of Brazil, which in turn

brings great benefits to the Brazilian economy. In Marcos Alvitos article he explains in

what ways soccer can help yield money for their economy. The flexibility of the soccer

merchandise allows it to be advertised in a variety of different forms including various

types of video games, TV, magazines, streaming wireless, sites exclusively dedicated to

games, and trading cards. Alvito also describes that turning to the sports sections of

the Brazilian newspaper is essentially turning to the economic page because of all the

licensing, sales, marketing, and loans. In most countries entertainment and tourism can

help acquire big bucks, and in Brazil all big entertainment leads right to soccer. The

money soccer helps to produce from advertising is also very key in the contribution

soccer brings to the Brazilian economy, but some people believe that soccer is not good

for the economy.

Even though soccer produces large sums of money for the economy, some

people believe it can negatively affect the economy as well. Siobhan ONeill writes

about what some people may use to distort other people's ideas on effects soccer has

on the economy. During the months of the World Cup, the people of Brazil tend to take

off work and simply do nothing but watch soccer. This leads to less production and

more consumption which can indeed hurt the economy greatly. She writes that hosting

soccer events costs tons of money to finance, and this also would make the economy
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lose money. There are many instances in which soccer negatively affects the economy

in the short run, but in the long run the economy significantly benefits.

There are pros and cons to every situation, but in the case of how soccer

benefits the economy in Brazil, the pros heavily outweigh the cons. Robbie Couch

believes that in Brazilian culture, soccer changes the lives of each person who lets it

affect them. The long run outcomes that are produced by soccer are things that greatly

affect the economy of Brazil, as well as the people and fans. Couch says, the long

lasting good feeling that comes from the success of the Brazilian national team

promotes spending that can make money, the good feeling that comes is important

because positive moral of a country can benefit many things including their economy.

In the months leading up to the hosting of the World Cup, many facilities needed to be

built, so they needed people for jobs which opened up around 1 million jobs for the local

Brazilians. With 710,000 of those jobs becoming permanent employments for the

Brazilian people, these projects not only help in the short term but in the long term as

well. As ONeill states that during the months of popular soccer tournaments the

production and consumer spending goes down greatly, but in months prior to the

tournaments spending increases drastically which evens out or even benefits the

economy. The only way the economy can benefit from its national soccer though is if

the team is doing well, and over the years Brazil has been one of if not the best in the

business.

Brazilian soccer has reached many achievements over the years, each

achievement solidifies them more and more as the top national soccer team in the

history of soccer. James Corbett writes with 5 FIFA World Cup victories and 7
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appearances in the finals, Brazil is for certain the most advanced nation in soccer.

This constant success of the Brazilian national team has brought a continuous good

feeling to the people of Brazil, as well as a constant economic cash flow due to winning

tournaments, endorsements, and advertising. The Brazilian national soccer team has

created fans that are more dedicated to their team than most others, so most every

game they play in Brazil is a sold-out crowd, and about everyone in Brazil owns several

pieces of merchandise to show their support. The accomplishments of Brazilian soccer

have helped them to positively impact the economy and bring their country millions of

dollars.

If the soccer in Brazil can keep up with the success that they have displayed thus

far then they will continue to have a huge impact on the economy. To continue their

success, they must keep coming up with new advertising and endorsement ideas, as

well as win at important tournaments at the national level. Would Brazils economy be

in the place it is now without the billions of dollars that have been brought in from

soccer? Soccer in Brazil is their whole universe to some people, and that can only have

a positive impact for people to care that much. Brazils economy will continue to flourish

around soccer and bring the people of Brazil happy experiences for years and years to

come.
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Work Cited

Alvito, Marcos. "Our Piece of the Pie: Brazilian Football and Globalization." Taylor &

Francis. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 May 2017.

Badenhausen, Kurt. "Neymar And Brazil Have The Best-Selling World Cup Jerseys In

U.S." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 17 June 2014. Web. 30 May 2017.

Corbett, James. "Brazil and the World Cups Economic Impact A Look Back." KCL

EFS. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 May 2017.

Couch, Robbie. "Braslia." World Geography: Understanding a Changing World, ABC-

CLIO, 2017, worldgeography.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/1819183. Accessed 7

May 2017.

Harrison, Wes. "FIFA Made an Insane Amount of Money off of Brazil's $15 Billion World

Cup." Business Insider. Business Insider, 20 Mar. 2015. Web. 07 May 2017.

Manfred, Tony. "FIFA Made an Insane Amount of Money off of Brazil's $15 Billion World

Cup." Business Insider. Business Insider, 20 Mar. 2015. Web. 30 May 2017.

Morpurgo, Guilia. "Fdration Internationale De Football Association Men's World Cup

Soccer Champions." World Geography: Understanding a Changing World, ABC-

CLIO, 2017, worldgeography.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/1642555. Accessed 7

May 2017.

O'Neill, Siobhan. "Brazil World Cup Tourism Negative or Positive Impact?"

International Tourism Partnership. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 May 2017.

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Smith, Frank. "Watch the Heartwarming Moment Neymar and Brazil Embraced a

Jubilant Young South African Fan." Mirror. N.p., 06 Mar. 2014. Web. 30 May

2017.