Palmeiras? How Football Clubs Help You to Understand Brazil
From immigrant influences to regional differences, stadiums describe the entire country.
This month, football teams like FC Bayern Munich and Tigres will take part in the FIFA World Club Championship. The event takes place in Doha, Qatar. Representing South America is Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras. Or, as most Brazilians know it, Palmeiras.
Palmeiras is not an strange institution at football. Stage figures like Ademir da Guia in the 70s, the striker Edmundo in the 90s, the goalkeeper and World Cup champion Marcos and most recently the Manchester City versatile forward Gabriel Jesus played there.
I am not a supporter of Palmeiras, but from another Brazilian football club called Santos -sadly defeated by Palmeiras in the final of the Libertadores cup, which is the equivalent of the UEFA Champions Cup in South America.
One thing that people do not realize is that, while football is an always present subject in Brazil, it is also useful to understand the country. In Brazil, football is at the same time uniting and opposing people.
This article has some generalizations. Not all fans from Palmeiras have Italian background, and not all from Corinthians live in the dense east side of São…
