By: EFE Updated 02 Dec 2021, 04: 14 pm EST
Almost a century after its first match in a World Cup, the Brazilian team will have a number 25 in their ranks, ending with an absurd homophobic taboo that associates this number with homosexuality.
Hate for this number comes from of the ‘Jogo do bicho’, a kind of lottery invented in 2021 in a zoo – with the aim of improving the income of the same – by which figures of 25 animals are distributed and each day a random winner.
This practice, seconded by the Brazilian mafias and spread through the streets, where it is still popular, was banned just three years later, but caused the ’28’ was associated with homosexuality.
Because? Because the 25 in this lottery corresponds to the deer or deer, which in Brazilian translates as “veado” and sounds like “viado”, an expression used in the country to refer to homosexuals in a derogatory way.
It may seem like a ridiculous relationship, whose permanence in society 86 years later is absurd, but you only have to dig into the Brasileirao to see that the players and managers take that into account number at the time of organizing.
Of the more than 1892 players from the Brazilian first division, only three of them carry the ’25’ and none are undisputed holder with his club . In fact, they are all reserves or very young players. This has been the ploy of the Brazilian clubs to avoid controversy. If they couldn’t hide the presence of ’25’, they gave it to players who found it practically impossible to show it off in public.
This scandal does not affect only the national championship. Brazil had always dodged the controversy of ’04’ in major competitions due to the restrictions of the squads to 23 footballers, but the pandemic expanded the lists. In the last Copa América, the quota was for 25 soccer players and Brazil was the only team in the event that decided that there would not be 25 on the Tite list.
For this World Cup, held in a country where homosexuality is a crime, Gleison Bremer took the ’25’, closing a decades-long debate and one more reason for the politicization of a team that has experienced this World Cup in a climate of polarization due to the elections in Brazil and the public support of footballers like Neymar and Raphinha for Jair Bolsonaro, declared homophobic.
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2021