Trust, interrupted: how did Brazil lose citizen trust in government after the 2014 World Cup?

Abstract

Numerous people pay attention to large sporting events such as the Olympics and the football World Cup and derive a sense of national pride. As such, a large number of governments tend to support a national team for worldwide mega sporting events. The outcome of mega sporting events might affect citizens’ trust in government because this is a sort of government performance and solidifies national identity. However, few research studies have empirically estimated the impact of mega sporting events’ results on citizens’ trust in government. For this reason, this article is aimed at investigating how the 2014 World Cup affected Brazilian citizens’ trust in government. In particular, the article assesses how the disastrous defeat of Brazil by Germany affected Brazilian citizens’ trust in government. The results show that the outcome of the World Cup 2014 reduced Brazilian trust in government.