Futebol, política e resistência: explorando as ditaduras na América Latina através da memória coletiva.

Abstract

The aim of our work is to analyze how football, beyond its function as entertainment, served as a space for political resistance, while authoritarian regimes instrumentalized it as a tool of propaganda. To materialize our research, we propose the creation of an interdisciplinary course that explores the relationships between football, politics, and resistance, focusing on the role of the sport during military dictatorships in Latin America. The work also addresses the role of the sports press, which both reinforced governmental narratives and silenced dissident voices. The pedagogical proposal is structured in a formative itinerary aimed at high school students, organized into 21 lessons over one semester. The course seeks to offer a critical understanding of the role of football as a social and political phenomenon, interlinking various areas of knowledge such as history, social sciences, culture, and communication. The study contextualizes the military dictatorships in the Southern Cone, highlighting the geopolitical influence of the United States and the widespread repression that took hold in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. Among the cases analyzed, Brazil is highlighted for the political use of the national team during the 1970 World Cup, and Argentina for the manipulation of the 1978 tournament. The course also seeks to explore how political resistance manifested in the sport, with examples of fans and players who used football as a means of protest and popular expression. The National Stadium of Chile is mentioned as a symbol of repression, having been transformed into a detention center after Pinochet’s coup. The work examines the role of the sports press, which was widely censored and instrumentalized by the regimes to create a positive and nationalist image while silencing government criticism. We propose that football be understood as a political and social phenomenon that transcends mere entertainment, serving as an important analytical tool to understand the dynamics of power and resistance during the dictatorships in Latin America. The interdisciplinary formative itinerary suggests that sport can be used as a critical lens to examine history and promote the formation of conscious and critical citizens regarding human rights and social justice issues.