Flamengo of Brazil celebrate winning the 2019 Copa Libertadores.
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Things are heating up in Brazil as the country moves towards the business end of its football season. Just as it has done over the last few years the ‘Serie A’ also finds itself on course for continental success.
At home Botafogo are on course to win their first league title since 1995, Flamengo and São Paulo are going to face-off in a thrilling ‘Copa do Brasil’ final, and abroad three of Brazil’s finest are still going for continental glory in the Copa Libertadores.
South America’s biggest landmass and economy by far is also home to the regions best league. Brazil is home to the biggest overall club revenue for any league throughout the America’s and that has been evident on the field of play too.
The tournament as a whole recorded $1.17 billion in revenue in 2012, which was the largest number outside of Europe’s ‘Top Five’ leagues at the time. Therefore it should come as absolutely no surprise that South America’s finest teams are those from Brazil’s Serie A.
The last four Copa Libertadores winners have all been Brazilian, only once in those four seasons has a non-Brazilian team even made the final, and come Friday of this week it’s probable that three of the four remaining teams in this years Copa Libertadores will be from Brazil too.
As well as having a rich football history and the most successful national team ever, Brazil’s sheer size and economic power has enabled it to grow at a level the rest of the continent simply cannot keep up with.
Brazil’s TV rights deal for the Serie A was worth over $610 million in 2012. That number is over 50% of Latin America’s total TV revenue regarding domestic leagues. Brazil has the monopoly in more ways than one.
Botafogo and their unprecedented title charge shows just how competitive the Brazilian Serie A is. The league is full of big clubs who are giants within their own respective states, but money is shared and competition is fierce.
Fluminense, Palmeiras and Internacional seem a little off the pace in the league, and they of course have all bowed out of the cup. Yet, they are the three sides flying the flag for Brazil in the Copa Libertadores and in all honesty are the most likely to lift the trophy, even ahead of the famous Boca Juniors of Buenos Aires.
In South America’s second tier competition, the Copa Sudamericana, Brazil make up five of the remaining eight teams in the tournament. Gremio and their star signing Luis Suarez have been excellent but will likely go this season without a trophy, and the likes of Vasco de Gama and Santos are fighting against relegation from the Serie A. It’s the closest thing to the Premier
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League that South America has ever seen.
Brazil’s Serie A has also flexed its muscles in this summer’s transfer window, bringing in the likes of Lucas Moura, James Rodriguez and Diego Costa to name just a few. In 2013 the Serie A, also known as the Brasileirão, had a marketing value just north of $1.2 billion. It is in a league of its own in a struggling continent and it might be a long time before it is knocked off its perch.
In terms of both finances and club football in South America, Brazil dominates the market place, dominates on the pitch, and overall steals the South American spotlight. It’s hard to see this trend changing any time soon as even the likes of Boca and River Plate are being left in the dust by Brazilian mid-table teams.
Whether this is a good or bad thing for South American football on the whole is another debate, but it certainly isn’t a problem for the Brazilians. Expect them to win it all this year.
Fluminense and Palmeiras could still win the Copa Libertadores title this year.
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Source link : https://www.forbes.com/sites/josephosullivan/2023/08/29/brazil-the-football-monopoly-in-south-america/
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Publish date : 2023-08-29 03:00:00
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