Why Watch Football in Brazil? Believe it or not, I found it quite difficult to answer this question, if only because there are so many reasons why you have to watch football in Brazil. In the end I plumped for what football supporters love best: football statistics and great players. First the Statistics. Brazil are the only country to have taken part in every World Cup tournament and have won it a record five times: 1958 , 1962 , 1970, 1994 and 2002. As for great players, pick from any of the following: Garrincha, Carlos Alberto , Rivelino , Jaizinho , Pele , Nelinho, Junior, Falcao, Socretes , Zico, Careca , Branco, Muller , Bebeto , Romario , Roberto Carlos , Rivaldo , Ronaldo, Ronaldinho , Robinho , Kaka....
Getting There There are direct flights from London's Heathrow airport to Rio de Janeiro's Galeao airport with BA (www.ba.com) or TAM (www.tam.com.br) airlines. We arrived on a 3 hour direct flight from Buenos Aires on Aerolineas Argentinas (www.aerolineas.com.ar).
When to Go. Time your visit well and you have a multitude of football competitions to choose from in Rio de Janeiro and throughout Brazil. The national championship (Brasileirao) takes place from May until December and pits Rio de Janeiro's four biggest clubs of Flamengo, Vasco da Gama, Fluminense and Botafogo against Sao Paulo's big four of Corinthians, Sao Paulo, Santos and Palmeiras. Unless the Rio clubs meet, other matches tend to attract smaller attendances and consequently quiet atmospheres.
The Rio State Championship (Campeonato Carioca) starts in middle of January until May and in the last few years the Flamengo-Vasco da Gama fixture has apparently replaced Flamengo-Fluminense ( known locally as Fla-Flu) as the most anticipated football fixture in Rio calendar. In 2006 and 2007, Flamengo and Botafogo both made the final of Rio State Championship.
Squeezed into this already busy fixture list are two continental 'Champions League' competitions in the Libertodores and Sulamericana; the Copa do Brasil which is the Brazilian ‘FA Cup’ and international friendlies and qualifiers.
As with every other country on planet football, television dictates match schedules and kick-off times in Brazil. Saturday matches normally kick-off at 4pm, 6.10pm or sometimes 8.30pm local time. Sunday is 4.00pm or 18.10pm. Weekday matches normally start at 7.30pm , 8.30pm or 9.50pm.
You will be guaranteed the opportunity of attending a couple of State Championship fixtures during Carnival Week, if you fancy seeing Rio's other main tourist attraction. A word of warning though about booking accommodation during this busy period . For Carnival week, you will need to book accommodation up to a year in advance if you want a decent hostel/hotel at reasonable price. Check online booking sites such as Boo (www.boo.com) and Hostelworld (www.hostelworld.com) who typically have reviews of all Rio's hotels/ hostels. We got our fingers burnt when booking a hostel that was very cheap. The fact it had no reviews did not ring alarm bells at the time. When we tried to reconfirm booking a few weeks before arrival, we were told booking had been cancelled and would have to pay ridiculous amount for alternative room. Fortunately we managed to find alternative accommodation (i.e spare sofa bed), only a fortnight before we were due to arrive in Rio in Carnival week. This was more luck than judgement on our part!.
Half-time Food Unless you are lucky enough to find a vendor inside the football stadium who sells black market beer, your choice of drinks are basically Coca-Cola or Guarana, a local soft drink. We ignored the peanuts, popcorn, chips and some rather unappetising hotdogs on offer and opted instead for a couple packets of Biscoitos Globo. A cross between a biscuit and a crisp we found vendors selling these snacks anywhere with a captive audience. We saw them being sold on Copacobana beach ; in rush hour traffic jams on the road from Galeao airport and of course the Maracana stadium an hour before kick-off. You can buy them either sweet or salty and believe me, the sweet ones can be very addictive.
Television For free channels showing Brazilian football matches , check out TV Globo and TV Bandeirantes. On cable, you'll get Sport TV.
Newspaper/Magazines/Books ‘Futebol The Brazilian way of Life’ by Alex Bellos. If you want an insight into Brazilian football, read this book on the flight over! (English) Guia Carioca 2009. Magazine produced by Lance that is full of facts photos and fixtures. O Globo newspaper ( predominantly local football news, but some national coverage as well) Folha de São Paulo newspaper (more São Paulo based football news, but some national coverage as well) Jornal dos Sports newspaper (Rio based football coverage only)
Vocabulary Hello. Oi or Olá Goodbye. Até logo Thank you. Obrigado (or Obrigada if you’re a woman) Two beers, please. Duas cervejas, por favor. Please can we go to the Maracana Stadium? Por favor, podemos ir para o Maracanã? Two return tickets to Metro Maracana please. Dois bilhetes de ida e volta para o Maracanã, por favor! Two seats in the Green section with the Flamengo fans please. (Once inside you decide where you seat: any green or yellow at both side) Dois ingressos de arquibancada verde, por favor. (Do not worry if you get a yellow section ticket. You can still seat anywhere at both colours) Which football team do you support? Voce torce para que time? I would like to buy some Havaianas in Flamengo colours please. Eu gostaria de comprar algumas Havaianas com as cores do Flamengo, por favor.
THE MARACANA STADIUM
Stadium When I first saw the Maracana from the outside, I was disappointed. After standing underneath the San Siro, Bernabeu and La Bombonera, the Maracana does not 'appear' that big. It is not until you get inside the stadium that you can appreciate the statistics about the Maracana. Constructed for the 1950 World Cup tournament, the Maracana notched up the world's largest attendance at a football match, when 199,854 people (not sure why they did not round up to 200,000!) witnessed the host nation losing 1-2 to Uruguary. The capacity has since shrunk to a health and safety-sized 80,000 which if full is still impressive. If only 30,000 odd are there, it can be a disappointing experience unless you 'dive' into the sections with Flamengo fans and their flags/drums.
As Brazil will be hosting the 2014 World Cup, the Maracana is due to close at some point in 2010 for redevelopment. During this time, supporters of Flamengo and Fluminense will be watching their respective teams play at Botafogo's Joao Havelange stadium (capacity 45,000) or the nearby Sao Januario stadium, home to Vasco da Gama (capacity 36000). Check the websites listed are for any announcements.
Getting a Ticket for Maracana Getting ticket for football matches at the Maracana is easy, so give the hotel/hostel ticket offers with their inflated prices a miss. Tickets normally go on sale a week before the match and can be purchased in advance from the football club shops at Botafogo, Flamengo and Fluminense, but not Vasco da Gama. These clubs all have an agreement between them to sell each other's match tickets, so check individual club websites for further details.
Tickets can also be purchased on the day of the match. As you come off at the Metro Maracana, you will see the black market ticket touts lining the walkway to the stadium. The ones with long queues in front of them, will normally be selling 'student tickets' for less than official prices at the nearby ticket booths. If you are planning to watch a big match like 'Fla-Flu', then expect prices to rise with demand.
If you do not fancy queuing for black market tickets, then carry on to long line of ticket booths that can be found on Avenue Pres.Castelo Branco (see photo). In terms of where to sit, well for the Maracana it is basically anywhere you want to.
The White section provides best views of pitch and allows you to watch/photograph the choreogrpahy of supporters at both ends. Be warned though if attending afternoon match, you could spend most of match with sun glare in your eyes.
It is possible to get tickets for Yellow, Green, or White sections and move between each one once inside. We opted for Green/Yellow section (see photo) and went straight in with the partying Flamengo fans who were waving flags, banging drums and generally creating much-needed atmosphere in a half empty Maracana.If money is tight, you could opt for cheaper blue seats in lower tier, but make sure if match is sell-out you are not in range of tier above. You could be on receiving end of some unwelcoming liquids from above, during the match. You have been warned.
Match Practise My Flamengo-supporting mate Sergio best summed up how Brazilian's choose their teams "Supporting one team in Rio today has nothing to do with where you live (you can live in the Botafogo district in Rio de Janeiro and still support Flamengo, and vice-versa…). It’s more related to your family background or best friend’s preferences at early ages, etc…
This is not to say some stereotypes exist amongst supporters of the top four Rio clubs. Vasco da Gama was created by the Portuguese immigrant community; Fluminense football club was formed from upper sporting club; whist Botafogo and Flamengo originate from neighbourhoods in southern part of Rio. Botafogo fans seemed to be driving every taxi I used during my visit. Flamengo is the best supported football club in Rio (around 45%of football supporters in Rio are Flamenguistas). As Flamengo Sergio says when any of the other big three clubs score against Flamengo, "their fans immediately start singing “Silence in the Favelas”. Every other fans team love to beat Flamengo".
If you are going by car, get their early. There is not much car parking areas around the stadium and in some streets you are not allowed to park. We got a return metro ticket to Maracana station and arrived about hour before kick-off to find the streets around the stadium eerily quiet. There were groups of people around the Bellini statue at the main entrance, but no parties, no sambas. What I found out later was depressing to say the least.
Apparently, since 2009 the authorities want to prepare the Maracana and the surrounding area for the forthcoming 2014 World Cup by banning the street vendors who fed and watered the supporters before every match. Flamengo Sergio described the good old days at the Maracana before FIFA stepped in to kill off any traditional Brazilian supporter culture:
"About the outdoor party that we used to have. Tourists can come along but as with anything else in Rio and tourists, beware of pickpockets!. If you do not wear club colours, it was possible to party with both sets of supporters. The street vendors used to arrive very early to take their place in the street (the first to arrive get the better place and one help another taking care of each other place). The same vendors used to stay at the same place every match. They weren't legal but tolerated by police. The supporters start arriving about 3 hours before (depending on the importance of the match). And you usually go at the same street vendor the more you get used to him (you can negotiate to pay later, you meet the same supporters and get kind of "friends" that meet only for the game, etc). These street parties used to happen with every football club playing at the Maracana or other stadiums. Not only Flamengo."
If you want to drink Skol or Brahma beer before the match, do not expect a bar in front of the stadium to sell you a beer, two hours either side of the match. Thankyou Sepp Blatter and FIFA!! You'll now have to walk 10-15 minutes away from the Maracana to a pe-sujo. Basically this is a bar literally on the street, where you stand at the entrance and drink beer.
Security is tight around the stadium, so expect a search on the way in. Inside the Flamengo support was amazing. The songs/chanting/drumming were continuous even when team were losing and was particularly impressed by the huge flags waved by supporters around the stadium. Brazil is such a football country that it has a natural product (bamboo) that can be turned into supporter flag poles. I did hear that these flags are no longer seen in any matches in Sao Paulo, as they were banned after a violent confrontation between supporters.
I was interested to hear that season tickets are rare in Brazil and even for largest supported clubs like Flamengo, supporters have to buy a ticket each time. I believe there are moves to organize them in the future, but as football is still a working class game in Brazil, where the working wage is quite low. This, along with the long distances may explain why few football supporters travel to away matches.
There were a few Flamengo fans in fancy dress, in particular a large group dressed as cavemen. Apparently it's very common for people to get dressed up with costumes in the Maracana Super man, Spider man, TV reporter (with fake cameras), angels, etc. Flamengo Sergio sent me newspaper clipping of Barrack Obama supporting Flamengo at the Maracana recently.
Although we saw no trouble between Flamengo and Resende supporters, Brazil is not immune to hooliganism. Flamengo Sergio reported a match at the Maracana after we were there, between Fluminense and Botafogo:
“At the last Fluminense-Botafogo derby (about 25.000 people only) there were a big fight outside the stadium just before the game. Supporters from Botafogo ( who must stay at Bellini statue gate) went in big groups to Fluminense side gate. Police came and there were some gun shots... Luckily there were no serious injuries!”
After the match, we could get out of the stadium straight away and back onto metro into city. Unlike Argentina, in Brazil the ‘away’ supporters have to wait until the home supporters leave and then police will escort them out of area.
Clubshop There is a shop near the main entrance at Maracana that sells all the four big Rio club shirts, baseball caps and other accessories. You can also pick up Brazil national shirts here, but I imagine at greater cost than at sport shops elsewhere in Rio.
Extra-time Plenty of things to see at the Maracana, even if a match is not on. We purchased our tickets the day before the match at ticket booth on Avenue Pres.Castelo Branco and then went round to the front of the stadium entrance (Gate 18), where you'll find the Clacada da Fama (Pavement of Fame). Brazil's football legends from Pele to Romario have all left their footprints and signature. Sensibly there appears to be plenty of floor space to accommodate Brazil's capacity to churn out football superstars.
For 20 reals you get a guided tour of the Maracana stadium including the press room , team changing rooms and then onto the pitch itself. There was even a wall full of famous Brazilian television commentators, who have cornered the market in “gggggggggggggooooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllll Brrrraaazziiiillllllllllllllllll” sayings!.Our english-speaking guide seemed unaware that the greatest goal ever scored by an Englishman, took place on this very pitch on 14th june 1984. In fact her exact words were "Who is this John Barnes"?.
There was however a plaque commerorating the visit of Queen Elizabeth II and the actual chair she sat on. You will also find the 'Museo do Futebol' (www.museodofutebol.com.br). As you would expect, the museum is filled to the rafters with momentos from Brazil's footballing history.Tours are available everyday from 9am until 5pm , except on matchdays when the stadium closes 5 hours before kick-off.
If that is not enough for you, flag down a taxi for short ride to Vasco da Gama's stadium, at Sao Januario (Rua du Général Almério de Moura, 41), to the north of the Maracana.
FLAMENGO
Club Basics Clube de Regatas do Flamengo Address: Avienda Borges de Medeiros 997 , Lagoa, Rio (RI) Club Website: www.flamengo.com.br Fans Website: www.racarubronegra.com.br
Stadium Clube de Regatas do Flamengo is located near a large freshwater lake in Rio called Lago do Machado. This was handy for for the club, who like Botafogo and Vasco da Gama, began life as a rowing club back in the 19th century. The Estádio da Gávea was opened in 1938 and the stadium is basically just one big one stand with a capacity of 8,000 (see photo).
Flamengo play all their matches at the Maracana stadium, and only use the Gavea stadium for first team training. Whilst we were there, rival sports television crews were the only folks on the pitch, 'bigging' up the next day's match and we would be there... The stadium is set within a larger sports complex, that to be honest has seen better days. The mix of swimming pools, athletic tracks, spiral concrete walkways and volley ball courts have all been seemingly themed on the film sets of the classic 1970's 'Planet of the Apes'/'Logan's Run'.
A Tour around Flamengo, cost us 10 real each and was self-guided. At times we could walk unmolested into their marketing department and other offices that were empty. My highlight of the Flamengo tour was the palatial trophy room, that was cunningly filled with classic South American trophies from other sport competitions. You know what I mean, 1 metre high trophies for under 13 regional beach football championships. Pride of place though, had to be the 1981 Toyota World club Championship trophy when a Zico/Junior-inspired Flamengo beat a Souness/Thompson-inspired Liverpool team 3-0 in Tokyo, Japan.
Getting to Stadium Bus: 128, 157 , 434 Famous Former Players to Impress Locals With. Leovegildo Lins da Gama Junior (or Junior to me and you!) played for the Brazil national team in 1982 and 1986 World Cups. He also managed a staggering 857 matches for Flamengo in the 70s and 80s, which included Flamengo's dream team that won the Copa Libertadores and Intercontinental Cup in 1981.
Zico or Arthur Antunes Coimbra played for the Brazil national team in 1978, 1982 and 1986 World cups, scoring 66 goals in 88 international matches. Whilst my father's generation got misty-eyed over Pele, I remember watching the television in awe as Zico stood out for me as the star of 1982 World Cup in Spain.
Known as the 'White Pele' in Brazil, Zico was considered by many commentators as one of the most skilled players of the early 1980s. Along with Junior, Zico was an integral part of Flamengo's dream team that won the Copa Libertadores and Intercontinental Cup in 1981.
Bebeto played for the Brazil national team in the 1990, 1994 and 1998 World Cups. Scoring 35 goals in 75 matches, Bebeto is mainly remembered for those 'rocking baby' goal celebrations, along with team mates Romario and Mazinho during 1994 World Cup matches. Bebeto played around 300 times for Flamengo........Left Flamengo to play in Europe, most famously at Deportivo La Coruna. During 1993-94 season, Deportivo were on verge of winning their first La Liga. In final match against Valencia, Deportivo were awarded a penalty that if scored would give title to Deportivo. Bebeto who had been penalty taker all season for the club, effectively bottled it and refused to take the penalty. Eventaully Dukic took penalty, missed and La Liga went to Barcelona.
Clubshop Once inside the Flamengo complex, head towards the stadium then bear right behind swimming pools and you'll find the 'Flamengo Boutique' or club shop. For a club that has nearly 35 million supporters, I was amazed that Flamengo was not flogging more pointless merchandise on the scale of the consumate professionals: Manchester United. Inside the boutique you'll find all the usual shirts and accessories, with emphasis on images of Zico in Che Guervara poses. My personal favourates were the cool young child-sized Brazilian flip flops (Havaianas), in Flamengo colours.
FLUMINENSE
Club Basics Fluminense Football Club Address: Rua Alvaro Chaves 41 , Laranjeiras , Rio (RI) Club website: www.fluminense.com.br Fan website: www.coracaotricolor.com.br
Stadium Fluminense's own stadium is called the Estádio das Laranjeiras and is located in a plush residential area of Rio. Fluminense first played football here in 1905 and hosted the Brazilian national team's inaugral match in 1912; a 2-0 win over Exeter City. In 1919, Fluminense built terracing around the pitch to make the first football stadium in Brazil. Today the stadium is heritage listed and it is not difficult to see why. Laranjeiras is a beautiful football stadium, constructed in what I would call a classic art nouveau design (see photo). I was surprised to read that the maximum capacity today is 8,000 people and impressed that the record attendance was 25,000.
A smile and a wave of the camera to the folks at the entrance got me in for free. I enjoyed a stroll around all the complex before finding a shady part of the stadium terrace, joining the Fluminense fans in watching the first team training session.
Clubshop 'Fluminense Boutique' club shop is right in front of you as soon as you enter the club entrance. Although the shop is small, it is well stocked with a good collection of deck-chaired striped shirts, hats and accessories.
Famous Former Players to impress Locals With. Rivelino or Roberto Rivelino I can only remember from the documentaries about Brazil's 1970 World Cup winning squad, that are aired in the run up to every World Cup tournament. Next time the highlights are on, check out the skillful Brazilian, scoring a cracking free kick against Czechoslovakia. The manic goal celebrations by the player with a large moustache, that is Revelino.
