Sports

Sports

Award-winning Brazil national volleyball team in June 2012.

The most popular sport in Brazil is football.[367] The Brazilian national football team is ranked among the best in the world according to the FIFA World Rankings, and has won the World Cup tournament a record five times.[368]

Volleyball, basketball, auto racing, and martial arts also attract large audiences. Brazil men's national volleyball team, for example, currently holds the titles of the World League, World Grand Champions Cup, World Championship and the World Cup.

The Brazil national football teamcelebrating their victory in the FIFA Confederations Cup 2013. Football is the most popular sport in the country.

Others sports practiced in Brazil are tennis, team handball, swimming, andgymnastics have found a growing number of enthusiasts over the last decades. Some sport variations have their origins in Brazil: beach football,[369] futsal (indoor football)[370] and footvolley emerged in Brazil as variations of football. In martial arts, Brazilians developed Capoeira,[371] Vale tudo,[372] and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.[373] In auto racing, three Brazilian drivers have won the Formula One world championship eight times.[374][375][376]

Brazil has hosted several high-profile international sporting events, like the 1950 FIFA World Cup[377] and has been chosen to host the 2014 FIFA World Cup.[378] The São Paulo circuit, Autódromo José Carlos Pace, hosts the annual Grand Prix of Brazil.[379]

São Paulo organized the IV Pan American Games in 1963, and Rio de Janeiro hosted the XV Pan American Games in 2007.[380] On 2 October 2009, Rio de Janeiro was selected to host the 2016 Olympic Games and 2016 Paralympic Games, the first to be held in South America[381] and second in Latin America after Mexico City. Further, the country hosted the FIBA Basketball World Cups in 1954 and1963. At the 1963 event, the Brazil national basketball team won one of its two world championship titles

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