Categories: Politics

Find out why the Brazilian team is called Canarinha

Find out why the Brazilian team is called Canarinha

Brazil is, once again, one of the favorites to win the next men’s world cup to be held in Qatar. And is that history not only supports this team — five world championships won in its name — but also its current status, as it had the best numbers in the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) qualifiers, even with one game to go. minus — the pending against Argentina, which will no longer be played — .

Soon we will see thousands of Brazilians on the streets of Qatar cheering for their national team, and millions following the World Cup from home to cheer for the canarinha.

Have you ever wondered why they call the Brazilian National Team Canarinha?

Although there is no official story about it, it all seems to date back to the 1950s, which included tragedies and footballing glories for the Brazilian national team.

Let’s start with the tragedy. In the 1950 World Cup, Brazil was the host and was expected to be crowned at home, but the so-called “Maracanaço” took place, a game in which Uruguay defeated the Brazilians to become world champion in rival territory.

In the aforementioned Cup, Brazil did not play with the traditional yellow outfit we know. At that time, the Brazilian team wore a uniform “predominantly white with blue details”, as explained in the article “Conversation with Aldyr Schlee (part 1): local football and border narratives”, published in the scientific journal FuLiA/UFMG, from Universidade Federal of Minas Gerais.

In 1953, a year before the next World Cup (Switzerland 1954), a competition was launched for Brazilians to present their design proposal for a new uniform, as the white with blue “did not express the vitality of the country”, adds the article. , which cites the call for this tender.

The contest was convened by Correio da Manhã, a newspaper in Rio de Janeiro, and had the support of the Brazilian Sports Confederation. The only requirement for the design was that the four colors of the Brazilian flag be used: yellow, green, blue and white.

Aldyr Schlee — writer, journalist, translator, professor, academic and designer —, who at the time was 19 years old, decided to participate and later his design would win: a shirt with yellow canary as the predominant color that Brazil would use for Switzerland 1954. uniform would become the characteristic of the Brazilian team and continues to this day.

“Since then, Aldyr Schlee’s canarinho — a Portuguese word that means “canary” in Spanish — has become a strong symbol of Brazilian identity,” adds the text. Hence the origin of the (selection) canarinha.

In Switzerland 1954, Brazil was not champion, but apparently the yellow uniform was destined for victory, as glory would not be long in coming. In the 1958 World Cup, in Sweden, the canarinha would win its first World Cup; Interestingly, the Brazilians would win the final of that championship wearing blue, as the rival team, the hosts Sweden, played in yellow for being local.

But Brazil lifted the other four Cups dressed in yellow: in Chile 1962, in Mexico 1970, in the United States 1994 and in Korea-Japan 2002. The ‘canarinha’ is a seal of the greatest champion in the world.

Source: CNN Brasil