Qatar 2022 qualifiers: Brazil: the monarch of South American football

The last time that there was talk of a monarchy related to Brazil was in the 19th century, when in 1889 the constitutional one that had been established even after its independence ended, on September 7, 1882. But far from being a political issue ( although we will see that not so much), we spoke again about this system of government with Brazil, but not within it, but with soccer and on a South American scale, since the present of green-yellow football shows a hegemony and control that not only can be evidence in the table of the qualifiers to Qatar 2022, where those led by Tite are absolute leaders, but for the continental tournaments where for the first time in history, both in Copa Libertadores (Flamengo and Palmeiras, champions of the two past editions) and in Copa Sudamericana (Bragantino and Atlético Paranaense) the four finalists are from the same country.

Neighborhood football, in the favelas, on the cement, sand, mud pitches, with improvised arches made of stones, suitcases or sticks in Brazil is culture, history and even politics. Football Beautiful game It is that of Maracanazo, that of Pelé, Socrates and Corinthians who challenged the dictatorship, that of Zico, Romario, Garrincha, Rivelino, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Neymar and so many others who, putting value judgments aside, they have in common that air of joy, the carnival in Rio de Janeiro, the batucadas and the dribbles that come from the streets and are polished with long-term sporting projects in the teams that make up the local league.

The Brazilian team, which today faces Colombia in the Metropolitan Stadium of Barranquilla from 4:00 in the afternoon, is a great example that contains a project of footballers who became great in the representative teams of the country, doing at the same time great to those institutions that now have the Brasileirão (local league) as the most solid in South America in sporting and economic terms.

Brazil's statistics are from another world. The project of Adenor Leonardo Bacchi, known as Tite, has been more than satisfactory since his arrival in 2016. The sixty-year-old coach, who knows his country's footballer very well after being champion with Gremio, Corinthians and Internacional de Porto Alegre , has led the national team on 39 occasions, leaving 32 victories, five draws and only two defeats. And just as he led his directed to the 2018 World Cup in Russia, where they lost in the quarterfinals against Belgium, he is at the gates to qualify for Qatar 2022 with a perfect score, because if they beat Colombia this afternoon, they would reach thirty points in the ten games played in the qualifying rounds.

Many will be able to point out the runner-up in the last Copa América against Argentina, not only for having lost against their historical rival, but also for having fallen in local condition, as we remember that the most recent edition of the continental tournament was finally held in Brazil because sanitary conditions and the social crisis in Colombia prevented the championship from taking place in our country and in Argentina. However, Tite achieved the title of that competition in 2019 against Peru and has kept his team at the top of the qualifying rounds, also safeguarding that good run, the undefeated Canarinha has at home, since never in the history of He has lost some qualifying for a World Cup in his territory: he has played 58 games, of which he has won 46 and drawn 12.

Under the command of Tite, Brazil in these qualifying rounds has added 27 points in nine games played; he has scored 22 goals from 86 shots he has made throughout qualifying and has only conceded three goals. Despite these numbers, since Brazil sometimes wins without playing in the best way, they wanted to remove Tite due to a sports “crisis”, because the team is not showy and even because of the position it showed with the realization of the Copa América , because the coach considered that due to the health crisis due to COVID-19 it was not correct to carry out the tournament in the country, since more than half a million people had died at that time. From various sectors he was branded a communist and those same voices pressured President Jair Bolsonaro to demand the departure of the technical director.

With an average age of 27.1 years, the Brazilian team is the result of the continuity of a project and the union of new local talents that are emerging from the Brasileirão, and that in a short time pass to the largest clubs in Europe. Of the 25 players called up for this triple date, four are in the local tournament and three will be in the final of the Copa Libertadores between Palmeiras, defending champion, and Flamengo, champion in 2019: Wéverton (Palmeiras goalkeeper); Guilherme Arana (Atlético Mineiro winger); Éverton Ribeiro and Gabriel Barbosa (Flamengo midfielder and forward respectively).

What left the 2014 World Cup and the projection of Brasileirão

The holding of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and the Rio 2016 Olympic Games not only wanted to position the neighboring country as a sports power, but also as a political power in Latin America. That a nation like Brazil could host two competitions of such magnitude demonstrated its capacity for development and would leave good feelings that would boost its economy - although ultimately not entirely - and would reaffirm the power of its athletes in the international arena.

It was a double bet. Behind sports, and more with this type of competition, there is a political and economic interest involved. However, beyond the state objectives, specifically in terms of soccer, an increase was demonstrated in the local league market, related to the discovery of new talents in Brazil, but also to the television rights business, a key issue to understand the financial power of the Brasileirão and its teams.

Although the differences in terms of income from television rights between the Brazilian league and the rest of the championships in South America is abysmal, it will surely be more so now. Until a while ago, the money received was divided between the two teams that faced each other in each game. That rule left a sum of US $ 275 million per season to be distributed among the twenty teams of the Brasileirão. However, on August 24, the Senate of that country approved the Principal's Law, which gives the clubs that play at home 100% of the broadcasting rights. Romario, former player and reference of Canarinha, and now senator, said that: "This project gives autonomy to the local club and modernizes Brazilian football a lot."

According to Transfermarkt, a website specialized in soccer statistics, the Brazilian league has a market value of 1,050 million euros, far surpassing the Argentine league, which is the second most expensive, with a value of 810.01 million. of euros; Colombia's BetPlay League is still in third place, with 253.42 million euros. In the last decade, according to calculations by the La Izquierda Diario portal, Brasileirão had an economic growth of 145.6%, a statistic that even surpassed some leagues in Europe.

In 2019, before the pandemic, Palmeiras and Flamengo - current finalists of the Copa Libertadores and recent champions of this championship - were the clubs that generated the most income. In that year, 27 Brazilian teams (19 from the first division and eight from the second) billed US $ 1,275 million, of which US $ 163 went to the São Paulo team, while the Rio de Janeiro squad obtained US $ 134.

And if television rights and the return of fans to stadiums increase revenue, it is only natural that there will be more investment to buy players. And just as they left Brazil years ago, so are figures who had a successful passage through the elite of European football are returning. In the last three or four years, players like Dani Alves, Douglas Costa, William, Filipe Luis, Hulk and David Luiz, among others, have returned to Brasileirão.

Similarly, the Brazilian league has several of the most expensive players on the market in South America. In fact, the five most expensive Brazilian footballers belong to the finalists of the Copa Libertadores. Gabriel Barbosa (Gabigol) has a price of 26 million euros; Giorgian de Arrascaeta (the only one who is not from Brazil) and Pedro, his colleagues in Flamengo, have a value of 18 and 14 million euros, respectively; Gabriel Veron and Gabriel Menino, from Palmeiras, also appear with values ​​of 16 and 14 million euros.

And this is also due to the sale of players. Let's go back several years to see that, for example, Barcelona paid Santos 88 million euros for Neymar; Vinicius Junior and Lucas Paquetá, who left Flamengo, went to Real Madrid and Milan at a cost of 45 and 38 million euros in recent years, prices that are far from being found in Colombia, a league that is not usually showcase for world football entrepreneurs.

But it is not a question of seeing Brazil thousands of stairs away, although reality shows it. The rival that the Colombian team faces today has not built its supremacy overnight, this is the result of a national project, of a culture, and as in this case, what concerns us is soccer, a A sport that is also part of our idiosyncrasy, it would be necessary to think about whether it is worth stopping the ball and gathering voices and wills to build a new model that enhances the talent and capacity of various footballers on a national scale, since it is known that there are plenty of virtuosos , but conviction and education are required so that those who dream of a World Cup or of playing in Europe first help the local league to grow and with it all those who live or dream of living from this competition benefit.