Brazil’s world cup defeat due to  ‘Protestant’ values claim fans

World cup fans in Brazil are blaming the country’s early exit from the FIFA competition on the “Protestant” values of players in the national team. 

On July 5, Brazil lost 1-2 to Norway and was eliminated from the FIFA World Cup.  Brazil is a five-time FIFA cup winner, including on three occasions between 1958 and 1970. Fans note that in the glory days of Pelé most of the national team or Seleção were Roman Catholics.

Seventy-six per cent of the 2026 Seleção were evangelical Christians, a phenomenon reflecting broader changes in religious identity in Brazil. In 1991, only 9 per cent of Brazilians were evangelicals. By 2022, that figure had risen to 27 per cent. During the same period, numbers of Brazilian Catholics decreased from 83 to 57 per cent nationwide, according to official statistics.

Some fans argue that this change in religious affiliation is mirrored by the playing style of individual footballers. Brazil supporters connect Catholicism with improvisation, the samba, a festive approach to life and the freewheeling “dribbling” style of famous footballers. Evangelicalism meanwhile is linked to Brazil’s players embracing a more disciplined, austere, structured technique on the pitch.  

These theories have been encapsulated by the motto “if we pray like a gringo, we play like a gringo” now circulating on social media. However, the theory was questioned by Pedro Feitoza, a lecturer in Latin American Christianity and assistant professor at the University of Edinburgh. He told Religion News Service that “transposing” Brazil’s changing religious affiliation onto the performance and behaviour of Brazilian players “was a stretch.”  Nostalgia for the period most of Brazil was Catholic was behind the theory, he argued.

Júlio Nascimento, a Brazilian sports journalist added: “The traditional Brazilian style was boldness, dribbling, individual plays, less concern with tactics, offensive play.” He attributed the change to Brazilian players leaving to train in Europe while very young. They develop a European style of play.

Stay updated — add us as a preferred news source on Google: