Brazil: An Emerging Power Establishing Itself in the World of International Sports Mega-Events

Abstract

This article aims at demonstrating Brazil's bidding processes and planning of international sports mega-events and how previous Brazilian governments have related hosting sports mega-events to the country's international politics. The events being considered are the 1919 South American Football Cup, the 1922 South American Games, the 1950 Football World Cup, the 1963 Pan American Games, the 2002 South American Games, the 2007 Pan American Games, the 2014 Football World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. The sources used for this research are from major newspapers and magazines from São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro and from government's official reports. These data were related to aspects of the Brazilian international affairs. As a result, we will be able to understand that hosting sports mega-events was part of a wider strategy and became one of the most important aspects of Brazil's international politics at the beginning of the twenty-first century.