For the second consecutive World Cup, the Brazilian detachment from the tournament reaches 50% of the population. Datafolha research points out that, three months before the World Cup in Qatar, 51% of respondents say they have no interest in the subject.
The number is similar to that recorded before the competition in Russia, in 2018. At the time, indifference reached 53%.
This year’s survey was conducted between the 27th and 28th of July. A total of 2,556 people aged 16 or over were heard, spread across 183 municipalities in the country. The margin of error is plus or minus two percentage points.
The last two world cups registered a much greater lack of interest than that observed since 1994, when the institute began to measure the mood of the population before the tournament. The exception is 1998, when the survey was not carried out.
Before the 1994 World Cup, 20% said they had no concern for the games. In 2002, it was 22%. Four years later, the number has dropped to 10%. In 2010, it rose to 20%. Months before the 2014 World Cup, held in Brazil, it jumped to 36%. And it skyrocketed in 2018 and 2022.
The level of those who responded having “great interest” in the event also suffered a historic drop, although it showed a numerical improvement compared to 2018. This year, 22% fit into this category, more than the 18% of four years ago . Prior to that, 56% were enthusiastic in 2014, 42% in 2002, 51% in 2006, 42% in 2010, and 25% in 2014.
One of the possible reasons for the numbers is a distance between the Brazilian team and the fans. This year, the team played in the country twice, both in the World Cup Qualifiers (Paraguay and Chile). When he had to play in friendlies, he followed the trend registered in recent years: he went abroad. He played against South Korea and Japan on a tour of Asia.
It is a problem recognized by the current president of the CBF, Ednaldo Rodrigues.
“There is really a great distance between the Brazilian team and its fans. This is largely due to the friendly games abroad. It has a contract that expires in 2022. We want the team closer to the fans, also to the sponsors and the press “, said the manager, in an interview with ge.com.
The drop in Brazilians’ interest in the World Cup has a series of explanations, both sporting and political. And it cannot be considered a recent phenomenon.
“Brazil has not been the home of football boots for some time now”, observes Professor Ronaldo George Helal, coordinator of the Sports and Culture Research Group at the University of the State of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ).
Author of studies that analyze the media coverage of Brazilian football in international publications, he lists a series of factors that influence this lack of interest.
“The World Cup is based on the idea that the team represents the nation, but people are increasingly detached from it. There is greater globalization, little identity with the team. So much so that the 7-1 [da semifinal em 2014, contra a Alemanha] It didn’t turn into a trauma. It became a meme. It’s one thing not to be interested in the national team, another is not to be interested in your club. There are people who follow their team much more than the national team. This was unthinkable in the 1970s, until 1982.”
For Bernardo Buarque de Hollanda, professor at the School of Social Sciences at CPDOC (Center for Research and Documentation of Contemporary History of Brazil), at FGV (Fundação Getúlio Vargas), the percentage recorded by Datafolha is not something “out of the loop”. This for a number of factors.
“It would not be so alarmist in the sense that there has been a big change in the last decade. There is a transition in the way of experiencing a World Cup every four years. There is a strengthening of club activity. This correlation [entre clubes e seleção] stopped being so balanced when the icons of the national team stopped being the icons of national clubs. There is this whole set of changes and variables that help to explain this decrease”, he analyzes.
What the two researchers also see is the political issue, the presidential elections scheduled for this year and the use of the national team shirt by forces considered conservative.
“There is a cooling of the identity brand of the Brazilian team. There is a discussion about the meaning of the green and yellow shirt in the current political situation, which in recent years has returned to shuffle these relations between football and politics, which were previously believed to be antagonistic elements. We have a different calendar this year. The tournament will be at the end of the year, right after the national election”, explains Buarque de Hollanda.
“There is this kidnapping of the symbol [a camisa] by more extremist groups. People associate these groups with winning the national team. The World Cup starts three weeks after the elections… There’s that thing where some football players have more conservative positions. The CBF shirt is also associated with corruption, and they tarnished the team shirt”, agrees George Helal.
This is a distance felt also by the main players of the team.
“Brazilians are very strict and unaccustomed, but when they are together to support, it’s something surreal. But nowadays the team has distanced itself a lot from the fans. I don’t know how it happened, but our games today are little commented on. This is bad”, admitted Neymar, captain and main player of the country, in participation in the podcast Phenomena, by former striker Ronaldo. “It’s sad to be living in this generation where the national team isn’t important when it plays. When I was a kid, the national team game was an event. Today it doesn’t matter.”
But despite Neymar mentioning “this generation”, referring to young people, the greatest detachment from the World Cup recorded by Datafolha is among the oldest. 55% of respondents between 35 and 59 years old said they were not interested in the tournament. The number drops to 51% among those over 60.
Disinterest decreases to 34% in the 16-24 age group and reaches 51% in the 25-34 age group.
The number of those who said they had “great interest” in the Cup is also higher among those aged between 16 and 24: 32%. For respondents aged 45 to 59, the percentage drops to 18% and is the lowest.
Men are more attracted to the tournament than women. In total, 28% of them responded that they had high expectations, and 44% did not have any. For them, the numbers are, respectively, 17% and 56%.
Among the different regions of the country, the greatest interest registered for the World Cup is among respondents from the North (29%), while the number decreases in the Northeast (26%), in the Midwest (23%), in the Southeast (20 %) and in the South (17%).
The situation is reversed among those who declared greater neglect. The highest percentage is in the South (58%) and goes to 53% in the Southeast, 48% in the Midwest, 47% in the North and 44% in the Northeast.
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