Soccer as a midfield for politics: the game beyond the four main lines

Abstract

Introduction: This article aims to investigate how soccer became an informal political institution in Brazil. Materials and Methods: It is based on historical neo-institutionalism, and the debate about informal institutions. We performed a bibliographical, documentary and a typical case analysis (Sport Club Corinthians Paulista). We conducted seven interviews: (a) semi-structured interviews with journalist Juca Kfouri, and former congressman Sílvio Torres (Brazilian Social Democracy Party) to capture the perceptions of actors and qualified observers; (b) five structured interviews with Corinthians fans to see how they elaborate on the electoral success and failure of their club’s idols. Results: Brazilian soccer works as a shortcut to political recruitment for two reasons: (1) club membership is a relevant identification factor in Brazilian society that can be mobilized to boost candidacies characterized by a strong relationship with relevant clubs in places where they compete and, in doing so, it provides a recruitable basis for voting; (2) the current structure of clubs, federations, and the Brazilian Soccer Confederation has rites that favors political socialization, as it is composed of continuous dispute of elections, negotiations with the government, relationship between the board, council, fans, and press. Therefore, the fact that the “body” soccer is not easily visible from the point of view of politics and the absence of regulations, legislation, and formal regulations, does not nullify soccer’s ability to regularly promote political practices as something safe. Discussion: Actors respond to formal and informal incentives. Ignoring informal incentives and norms produces an incomplete picture of the political phenomenon. Therefore, it is important to overcome analysis that tend to the logic “soccer and politics do not mix”, or the interpretation of this sport as a monolithic mechanism, of alienation of the masses, appropriated by political leaders and recognize the existence of multiple interests, sometimes converging, in soccer actors and their regular political action.