In his masterpiece entitled "Soccer in Sun and Shadow", Eduardo Galeano detailed the shades of South America’s most beloved sport.
His biggest mistake, when he discussed Brazil, was to omit the northeastern part of the country. In this region, there are many big clubs with passionate fans. Despite these clubs’ problems, their fans keep doing beautiful tifos, inspired by the tradition of the local scenery.
The Northeast Region, Do Nordeste in Portuguese, is one of the biggest regions in Brazil. It contains 9 states out of the 26 of the country. It is there where the Portuguese invasion began in 1500, where the Dutch colonial project in Recife took place in the 17th century and where the process of conquest and colonisation started in Brazil. It has about 53,081,950 inhabitants.
The current situation in Nordeste soccer is financially problematic, as is the case in other regions of the country. The debts which almost every Brazilian club has have made the clubs change their financial structures, in an effort to regain their stability. Most of the Nordeste clubs play only in the State Leagues, as they don’t get relegated to the lower divisions (Series D or C), but nor are they promoted to the higher divisions (B or A). Sport Clube from Recife is the only Nordeste club in the Série A.
The impact of the media
Some of the most powerful actors in Brazilian football are the TV networks, especially Rede Globo. This network reaches almost every home in the country and has a big cultural influence over the content people consume. During the fifties, radio broadcasting of football matches began spreading the game across Brazilian society. From the seventies, soccer’s popularity grew drastically in Brazil, thanks to the military dictatorship, which used football as a social tool, the Brazilian national team’s success at Mexico 70 and the broadcasting of local competitions on television. The audience for soccer matches grew dramatically. This process made the northeastern clubs lose their fan to bigger clubs who had live television coverage, especially Flamengo, Vasco da Gama, Palmeiras and Corinthians. A ‘transparent wall’ was created between fans and clubs in the region, due to the lack of media support for the northeastern clubs. Nowadays, there is no difference. The region’s channels still broadcast more matches of the popular clubs from the bigger sporting centres (São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and Rio Grande do Sul) than the of northeastern clubs.
History of battles between Periphery Warriors and Center Powers
Despite their peripheral reality, few of the northeastern clubs have achieved much on the national scene during the past decades.
In 1959, Esporte Clube Bahia won the National title and became the first Brazilian Champions. Bahia dominated Pelé and Santos in the final and became the first Brazilian team to compete in the Copa Libertadores da América.
In 1987, the CBF announced that it would not be organising the Brazilian Championship. As a response, the ‘Clube dos 13’ (the 12 biggest clubs of the country, plus Bahia) decided to organise an alternative national competition. It was divided in two leagues: Green and Yellow. Later on, the CBF eventually decided to organise a tournament and asked the two winners to have a quadrangular final in order to determine the national champion. The two winners, Flamengo and Internacional, refused to do so, and runners-up Sport and Guarani went to the final. Sport defeated Guarani and brought glory to the Nordeste. Even today this final is still a cultural symbol, as Sport’s star Diego Souza, wears number 87 as a tribute to one of his club’s greatest moments.
In 2008, Sport, nicknamed the ‘Leão da Ilha’ (Lion of the Island), won the Brazilian Cup against a brilliant Corinthians side. The club’s official statement after the victory was: “It was a real battle about prejudice and identity, not only a game. The Lions represented the entire Northeastern region”.
In 1988, Bahia was the state bi-champion and its president the time, Paulo Maracajá, brought in coach Evaristo de Macedo. The ambitious mission was to bring the Brazilian title to the ‘Esquadrão de Aço’. “Whoever shows up in Fonte Nova will get thrashed by Bahia! Flamengo, Internacional, or São Paulo – it does not matter”. And it didn’t.
Even after a bad start to the season, Bahia qualified for the knockouts, beating Sport in the quarters and Fluminense in the semis. In the final against Internacional, the ‘Baianos’ won the first match 2-1 and held the advantage in Beira Rio. This season, the club designed a third kit with a special tribute to the great team of 1988, the ‘Esquadrão de Aço’.
Fortaleza was crowned as a Brazilian Vice-champion twice, in 1960 and 1968; Vitória was a Brazilian Vice-champion in 1993, after eliminating big teams like Corinthians, Santos and Flamengo. Dida, the goalkeeper who had great success with Corinthians, Milan and the Brazilian National Team was in goal for Vitória during this magical season.
In 2010, while the northeastern teams were still recognised as ‘second-tier’ clubs, the same Vitória managed to go against the odds once again. With a stable team, they faced Santos in the Copa do Brazil final. The Santos of 2010 was one of the most talented teams of the modern Brazilian game, with names such as Neymar, Ganso and Robinho. Santos dictated the first match and won 2-0. Vitória gained a 2-1 victory at the Barradão stadium, but lost 3-2 on aggregate and came second. It was their best run in the history of the Copa do Brazil.
Today, one of the biggest icons of Nordeste soccer is Santa Cruz Futbeol Clube from Recife. The club has a rich history, but in recent years has failed to qualify for the Série A and is currently playing in the B competition. In 2011, while the club was playing in the Série D (!), Santa Cruz’s passionate fans filled the Arrudão stadium for big matches with 60,044 spectators and reached an average attendance of 25,136 fans for every match. Nowadays, the stadium is ranked 4th in Brazil, with an average attendance just after that of the Maracaná (Río de Janeiro), el Mané Garrincha (Brasilia) and the Morumbí (Sao Paulo).
Um Futuro Nordestenho
Despite the debts and mediocre facilities, there is light at the end of the tunnel for the Nordestinhos. The new stadiums, which were built for 2014 World Cup, can increase the clubs’ profit for home games, in order to help the teams to build better training facilities and attract better players, such as Grafite, who signed for Santa Cruz from the Serié B.
Northeastern football maybe does not get enough exposure or achieve much, but its history of numerous emotional victories over rivals from São Paulo and Rio is still alive and kicking and preserves the region’s tradition and hope for more football glory.
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Henrique Filgueiras is a writer who finds a way to see the different aspects of life through football, and a football fan who finds different ways to see things through life.
*Many thanks to Guilherme Dorf from Sem Firula for his comments and insights in bringing this piece together. Sem Firula is a great football initiative from São Paulo. Give them a follow:
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