Brazilian Soccer Fans Give Boot to Bolsonaro’s Favorite Brand
The Flamengo Regatta Club brings politics onto the pitch by signing up President Jair Bolsonaro’s darling retail brand as a sponsor.
Don’t mess with the black and red.
Photographer: Wagner Meier/Getty Images South AmericaFootball, I’ve learned after many years in Latin America, is no church for half hearts. “God is round,” author Juan Villoro wrote in his panegyric on the beautiful game. So even I, a gringo transplant to Brazil and (full disclosure) a nondenominational aficionado, was upset when the Flamengo Regatta Club cut a deal with the dark side.
So it was last week when club officials announced a sponsorship agreement for the remainder of 2021 with the Brazilian department store Havan SA. On the surface, this was just sport business as usual. Flamengo, while flusher than other clubs, needs the cash, which has been scarce after a bruising pandemic year that emptied stadiums and tabled tournaments for months. The club finished 2020 some $37 million (R$200million) in the red. For Havan, a regional department store eager to go national, there’s nothing like hitching your logo to a legacy champion like Flamengo.