Far-right supporters wore uniforms to protest Lula
"I would be mistaken for the far right" fans worried
The story of the yellow uniform
Brazilian Omar Monteiro runs a beer hall near the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro, one of the "meccas of football". All kinds of football-related decorations fill the store, but there is only one thing you won't find. This is the yellow national football team jersey. Considering that this jersey is the symbol and identity of 'samba football', it is unexpected. Monteiro told the Washington Post (WP), "This is because the yellow uniform has become a symbol of the far right in Brazil. ”
On the 24th, on the eve of the match between Brazil and Serbia at the 2022 Qatar World Cup, the Brazilian national team uniform encountered an unexpected test. This is because passionate Brazilian fans avoid wearing uniforms.
The Brazilian uniform is yellow, only the neckline and sleeves are green. The design has changed slightly, but the colors have not changed much. This is a long tradition since 1953. Yellow and green are the colors used on the flag of Brazil.
On the 15th, in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, a man who supported President Jair Bolsonaro wore the Brazilian national football team uniform to protest the results of the presidential election. Brasilia = Reuters, Yonhap
Yellow has recently become the symbolic color of Brazil's far-right camp. Supporters of President Jair Bolsonaro, who failed to win re-election in Brazil's presidential elections last month, wore yellow shirts during the protests. At first glance, it looks a lot like the uniform of a football team. They wear yellow shirts and hold the Brazilian flag, claiming that the presidential election is invalid and criticizing President-elect Luis Inácio Lula Dasúva. He sometimes wears not a shirt, but a football team uniform. The crowd gathered at a rally against the election looked like a soccer cheerleader.
Losing yellow to far-right football fans is in trouble. This is because walking down the street in a yellow uniform can be seen as a political act. João Vitor Gonçalves Oliviera, a university student who tried to buy a national team uniform last September, told the BBC, "The shopkeeper mistook me for a supporter of Bolsonaro and immediately started cursing Lula." A Brazilian man in his 40s told the Guardian, "I used to be proud to wear the jersey, but now I feel shame and disgust. ”
On the 22nd, Brazilian fans wearing the Brazilian national team uniform cheered on the streets of Doha, Qatar. Doha = AFP Yonhap
This means that the uniform, which was once a symbol of Brazil, famous footballers and national unity, has become a "symbol of division". British sports outlet The Athletic reported that "the world's most famous jersey was kidnapped by the Brazilian far right", and WP criticized "Brazil's toxic politics as staining the football jersey". This is reminiscent of when far-right groups in South Korea protested against the Taeguk flag, when the flag was misled as a symbol of conservatives.
President-elect Lula started to evolve the controversy. "Yellow and green are not colors that belong to a particular political party, but the colors of all 213 million Brazilians who love their country," he said, urging people to wear yellow uniforms and support during the World Cup.
The football world is drawing a line from the controversy. When Brazilian media Oglobo asked the head coach of the Brazilian national football team, Adeno Leonardo Brazil, for advice, he replied: "I don't want to get involved in the ideological war." ”