Is Brazilian football finally starting to fight homophobia?

Good morning and welcome back to the Brazil Sports newsletter. This week, we’re looking at the Brazilian league’s new plan to curb homophobia in stadiums, the Brazilian women’s team’s new (Swedish!) coach, and a profile of Tyneside’s new favorite striker: Joelinton. Happy reading!

Is Brazilian football finally starting to fight homophobia?

Homophobia has long plagued Brazilian football. Whenever there is an opposing player that one set of fans dislikes, the uninventive go-to insult is simply to chant that the player is a “viado,” a faggot. When singing about rival teams, once again, homophobic insults are the first port of call.

It doesn’t stop with the fans either. In Brazil’s traditional animal lottery jogo do bicho—an illegal draw held in neighborhoods across the country where each number is represented by a different animal—number 24 represents the deer, or “veado,” which is used as a homophobic slur. Until this day, it is incredibly rare to see any Brazilian footballer wearing the number 24 shirt.

More recently, the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) was fined by FIFA for five instances of homophobic chanting throughout the qualifying campaign for the 2018 World Cup. At goal kicks, fans would shout, in unison, homophobic slurs at the opposition goalkeeper. The same behavior was seen at Brazil’s opening match of the 2019 Copa América, but went unpunished.

In 2019, Brazilian football is finally taking a stand against homophobia in stadiums. On the back of the Supreme Court determination that discrimination related to sexual orientation or gender identity is now a crime in Brazil as a whole, the Superior Sports Justice Court (STJD) has followed suit, establishing specific punishments for homophobic behavior on behalf of players, clubs, and fans.

Now, teams may be punished with points deductions if they are reported to the STJD for homophobic chanting. If the violation occurs during a cup match, the team in question could face elimination from the tournament. Is it going to make any difference? It’s too early to say. However, the rule is by far and away the most Brazil has done to fight homophobia in stadiums.

This weekend, during the league match between Vasco and São Paulo, referee Anderson Daronco paused proceedings and walked over to the home side’s coach, Vanderlei Luxemburgo, to tell him that the game would not continue until Vasco fans stopped homophobic chanting. The coach turned to the fans, gestured for them to stop, which they eventually did, and the game continued.

Durante o segundo tempo, Daronco avisa e Luxemburgo pede para torcida do Vasco parar com os cantos homofóbicos pic.twitter.com/EfmrtaXl3B

— globoesportecom (@globoesportecom) August 25, 2019

Daronco included the homophobic chants on his match report, and the STJD will analyze the...