The Law Relating to Brazilian Sports Fans: An Introduction for a British Audience

Abstract

This article describes the recent developments in Brazilian law that led to the enactment of the Sports Fans Statute in 2003. Over the last decade, Brazilian fans have been treated as consumers and are consequently entitled to a bundle of legal rights: fairness of the competition; transparency; access to an ombudsman; transportation; personal safety; insurance; sanitation; fair tickets and food pricing; and ticket selling standards. In addition to these consumer rights, due to the escalation of violence among hooligans, Brazilian authorities established Sports Fans Courts, prohibited alcohol consumption inside football stadiums, and permitted certain sports fans associations to be banned as well as individual spectators. Recently, the organisation of the World Cup provoked a clash between the transnational culture of FIFA executives and the local legal culture of Brazilian lawyers, as the norms adopted to organise the national Brazilian competition will be suspended during the international tournament.