Managing Brazil’s participation in the 1970 football World Cup: meaning in the service of power

ABSTRACT

This paper focuses on the management of Brazilian participation in the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico. It analyzes discourses in the press to critically discuss how power relations were combined in the construction of a consensus around the participation in the 1970 Cup, drawing on concepts of symbolic forms, power and ideology. This cup motivated a series of dramatizations of the social world, revealing relationships, values and ideologies in force and latent. Strategies of symbolic construction made use of football (as a symbol of unity, identity and collective identification) and of traditional management tools such as accounting and calculative practices to rationalize discourses and legitimate power relations. Through a holistic approach, the study contributes to understand the use of football by dominant groups in shaping society. In the economic and financial dimension, the paper also provides insights into the constitutive role of accounting by showing its contribution to establish and sustain relations of domination, and into its interlinkages with a broader popular phenomenon – football.

KEYWORDS:

• Football
• Brazil
• power
• ideology
• World Cup

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on the websites of the National Digital Library of Brazil, at the link Hemeroteca Digital at https://memoria.bn.br/hdb/periodico.aspx, O Globo (Acervo) at https://oglobo.globo.com/acervo/, and Estadão (Acervo) at the https://www.estadao.com.br/acervo/.

Notes

1. The World Cups of 1958 and 1962 were won in a democratic context, before the military dictatorship.

2. This paper builds on a broad understanding of accounting (e.g. Burchell et al. 1980; Carnegie, Parker, and Tsahuridu 2021; Hopwood 1994) that embraces the social and organizational context and recognizes that accounting is not only a technical practice used to report on economic activities but also a social, moral and political one. While the technical practice of accounting (the measuring, recording, summarizing and communication of information for decision-making) is important, a broader understanding of accounting goes far beyond and provides answers to the following questions: ‘what does accounting do?’, ‘what are the impacts of accounting in the world?’ and, ‘what should accounting do (or not do)?’ (see Carnegie, Parker, and Tsahuridu 2021). Accordingly, this implies considering that accounting has a ‘productive force’ (Miller and Power 2013, 558), with the capacity to intervene and impact human behavior in organizational and public life (Burchell et al. 1980; Hopwood 1994).

3. This magazine is available at: https://books.google.pt/books?id=id8N64KzeLEC&hl=pt-PT&source=gbs_all_issues_r&cad=1

4. Brazilian football was governed by the CBD, the National Sports Confederation, founded in the 1910s. In 1941, through the issue of the Decree-Law 3.199, of April 14, sports were officially acknowledged as important tools to control society and promote the national ideals of the Estado Novo in Brazil. This Decree-Law instituted CBD’s dependence on the National Sports Council linked to the Ministry of Education and Health.

5. The central argument was that the altitude, in Mexico, would influence the competitors’ performance.

6. The 1970 Brazilian team has been called the best of all time and materialized the Brazilian football art (Bellos 2002).

7. Moreira Salles provided financial support to the Instituto de Pesquisas Sociais (Institute of Social Research), created to support the conspiracy that led to the military coup (Dreifuss 1981; Mayer, n.d.). Former Brazilian ambassador in Washington (1952–1953; 1959–1961), the banker was among the Brazilians who provided information on João Goulart’s government to the American ambassador in Rio de Janeiro (Arquivos da ditadura n.d.).

8. UBB was established in 1967 as a result of the expansion of Banco Moreira Salles, which took advantage of the military dictatorship’s policy of banking centralization and absorbed other banks (Mayer, n.d.).

9. The cruzeiro (Cr$) was the monetary standard in Brazil from 1942 to 1967, 1970 to 1986 and 1990 to 1993. From 1967 to 1970, it was temporarily replaced by the new cruzeiro (NCr$).

10. The Jules Rimet Trophy was the original prize for winning the FIFA World Cup. The winning of the 1970 Cup allowed Brazil to keep the real trophy in perpetuity, as stipulated by Jules Rimet in 1930.

11. Alongside other multinational corporations operating in Brazil, Shell provided financial support to Instituto Brasileiro de Ação Democrática (IBAD) which acted as a conduit for multinational funds directed to IPES (Dreifuss 1981).

12. The Maracanazo, deeply etched into football history, refers to Brazil’s defeat against Uruguay in the decisive match of the 1950 FIFA World Cup. This historic event took place at Rio de Janeiro’s Maracanã Stadium. The term encapsulates the profound shock and disbelief that swept over the Brazilian nation when Uruguay secured the victory. Brazil, as the host nation, held high hopes and an almost palpable sense of anticipation for a triumphant outcome. However, Uruguay’s unexpected 2–1 win shattered these expectations, leaving an enduring imprint on Brazil’s footballing legacy. The Maracanazo represents a pivotal moment that transcended mere sports. The profound sense of loss and the ensuing national identity crisis left an indelible mark on the writings of José Lins do Rego, Mário Filho and Nelson Rodrigues, collectively contributing to the understanding of the event’s lasting significance in Brazilian memory (Antunes 2004). Mario Filho, for example, chronicled the tragedy, describing the stunned silence that enveloped the stadium as Uruguay scored. He emphasized the profound impact of the defeat on the collective Brazilian psyche (e.g. Filho 1950). Nelson Rodrigues added a layer of theatricality and introspection to the event, exploring the psychological complexities of the Brazilian players, the expectations placed upon them, and the ultimate heartbreak that unfolded. His writings revealed the intertwining of sports and human emotion, using the Maracanazo as a canvas to explore deeper existential themes (e.g. Rodrigues 1993).

13. This relates to the ‘mutt complex’, a term coined in 1958 by Nelson Rodrigues. The ‘mutt complex’ is the voluntary sense of inferiority that Brazilians impose upon themselves in comparison to the rest of the world, stemming from Brazil’s defeat in the 1950 World Cup final (Rodrigues 1993). To Rodrigues (1993, 62), it is ‘a matter of self-belief. Brazilians need to convince themselves that they are not “mutts” and that they have football prowess to spare.’

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lídia Oliveira

Lídia Oliveira Ph.D. in Business Administration, is a Professor of Accounting at the School of Economics and Management, University of Minho, Portugal. Her research engages with accounting and accountability, financial and non-financial reporting and corporate communication.

Ana Caria

Ana Caria Ph.D. in Business Administration, is a Professor of Accounting at the School of Economics and Management, University of Minho, Portugal. Her research engages with accounting and accountability in diverse settings, with financial and sustainability reporting, corporate communication and accounting history.

Helena Costa Oliveira

Helena Costa Oliveira Ph.D. in Accounting, is a Professor of Accounting at the Porto Accounting and Business School, Polytechnic of Porto, Portugal. Her research engages with management accounting, institutional logics and healthcare management.

Janaína Almeida

Janaína Almeida Ph.D. in Accounting, is a Professor of Accounting at the Federal University of Tocantins, Palmas, Brazil. Her research engages with business and accounting history.