Opinion – Renata Mendonça: Copinha reminds us of real football, far from the million dollar market

Football is not made of the millions of reais involved in the transactions of the great players for the main clubs in the world. Real football is made of coins, tomatoes, pending issues, urea… These guys that the São Paulo Junior Cup introduces us to and that we may never hear about again. But we can’t forget: football is, essentially, theirs.

There are more than 3,000 players in 128 clubs looking to take advantage of Copinha’s showcase to fulfill their childhood dream: to be a soccer player. It’s sad to see this, but the truth is that most of these athletes will end their careers frustrated. Because the football we watch on TV all year is the reality of a very small percentage of a gigantic universe that only becomes evident to us in January, during the Cup.

A study by Ernst & Young commissioned by the CBF showed that, considering the national football scenario in 2018, 55% of football players in Brazil earned up to R$1,000. The astronomical salaries were for 1% of the athletes, who received more than R$ 100 thousand. And those who have literally millionaire incomes do not reach 0.1% of the total universe.

When the goalkeeper Tomate, from Andirá-AC, left the field crying after being substituted at the moment when Atlético-MG would take the penalty scored against his team, he knew that there was his last moment to be seen and, who knows , get a chance to earn a living through football.

There were several defenses throughout that match that guaranteed the score 0-0 until that penalty. If he took the charge, the goalkeeper would be consecrated, who knows with the opportunity of a professional contract in a bigger club.

Copinha is often the only or the last chance for athletes from all over the country to continue dreaming of football as a profession. For that player, who has been through so many disappointments and so many setbacks in life, football can be his last hope.

The story of Weslley Patati, from Santos, for example, is one that should have a happy ending with the boy shining in Vila Belmiro among the professionals. But not long ago, he almost gave up. The boy, born in Presidente Dutra, in Maranhão, was contacted at the age of 15 to take a test in Jataí (GO) and was abandoned there. Weslley Patati went hungry and had to overcome many adversities to get a spot at Santos’ base.

Rwan Seco, his close partner in attack, is another one who almost gave up. During the pandemic, he went to work with his father as a bricklayer’s helper and no longer saw hope in football until he was removed from Flamengo de Guarulhos by Santos.

Copa São Paulo is a portrait of our football. There will be some stories with a happy ending, with players signing professional contracts and shining in the big clubs. But most of them will need to look for paths beyond the lawns. That’s why football can’t just train players – it needs to train human beings.

“The clubs should be effectively concerned with structuring these children who arrive. Not only putting them in school, but making them learn, having a social worker, a psychologist along. For you to do that, you need a high investment. And then you will deliver to society better people. Because it is a minority that will become a player”, said coach Fernando Diniz, in an interview with ESPN’s “Bola da Vez”, in 2017.

Football, in addition to representing social ascension, can be a tool for social transformation. Ascension comes, unfortunately, to very few. If we work better at the base, this transformation can come to everyone.