How Has Brazil Used Sport as a Soft Power Tool?

Citation

Rocha C (2026) How Has Brazil Used Sport as a Soft Power Tool?. In: Routledge Handbook of Sport and Soft Power. 1 ed. London: Routledge, p. 444. https://www.routledge.com/Routledge-Handbook-of-Sport-and-Soft-Power/Brannagan-Grix-Reiche/p/book/9781032899077

Abstract
This chapter aims to discuss the strategies that Brazil has used to expand its soft power through using sport. Brazil gained some soft power during the last decades of the XX century through the success of the men’s national football team. That happened by chance, as the country had not invested in cultural diplomacy to use football as a soft power tool. At the beginning of the current century, Brazil adopted a more strategic approach by hosting sports mega-events as a vehicle to help the country expand its soft power and diplomatic status. Hosting the two top-tier sport events in the world – the FIFA Men’s World Cup and the Olympic Games – in the same decade seemed a golden opportunity. However, the lack of planning on how to leverage potential impacts and legacies of the sports mega-events and the overreliance on the traditional approach of improving image led the country to ‘soft disempowerment’ instead. Brazil could have improved its diplomatic status by using sports mega-events, if a more strategic approach had been implemented. Nevertheless, the long-term structural problems of the country have made the task of using sport achievements (either on or off field) a big challenge.

Keywords
Sport mega-events; major events; power; Global South; Latin America