A identidade da seleção brasileira: “complexo de vira-latas”, “pátria de chuteiras” ou marketing esportivo?

Abstract

Through this study, we intend to identify possible changes in the Brazilian national soccer team’s identity and also to find which elements have contributed to this transformation. We are seeking for new perspectives from both the fans and the media regarding the Brazilian team. In order to achieve that, we will make use of two classical concepts proposed by Nelson Rodrigues. The first one is known as “'the nation in soccer shoes'”, a feeling which all Brazilians fans feel when the national team wins, and the second, “the mongrel complex”, a sense of inferiority felt when de national soccer team loses. Both of the concepts will be used as categories for our research. Can the sports marketing be blamed for this “new” identity? Did the globalization process; the significant number of Brazilian soccer stars playing overseas; the posture of the main sponsor (Nike) over the Brazilian Soccer Confederation (CBF)’s decisions, instigate some type of detachment from the media and fans? In order to answer these questions, a survey was applied to the fans, before the Confederation Cup held in Brazil in 2013, and, in addition to that, the columns of three sportswriters were analyzed over six months to evaluate if the nation is still in “soccer shoes” or if it means that our “mongrel complex” still prevails?