Umkämpfter Raum: Die Popularisierung des Fußballsports in Brasilien von 1890 bis 1930

Abstract

Abstract

Contested Space. The Popularisation of Football in Brazil, 1890-1930. This article argues that the arrival and diffusion of football (called „soccer“ in North America) in Brazil between 1890 and 1930 can be interpreted as a process of spatial formation rather than a process of cultural imperialism and the result of the „exportation“ of a British cultural product. In considering recent studies on the history of modern sport and its diffusion in different parts of the world, this article fi nds that the incorporation of football in Brazil depended on the agency of individuals, such as journalists, social reformers and „sportmen“, and on social groups, such as immigrant communities in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Even though the fi rst football clubs were exclusive and hermetical spaces of urban elites, the article shows how members of other social groups contested the cultural space of football and, thereby, helped to reconstruct it along more inclusive lines.