Brazil's national team had another inauspicious exit from this year's World Cup. Some were laying the blame at the squad, which now has 20 of the 26 players who describe themselves as Evangelical Christians, as the cause of their problems.
Source: Times of London
Some Egyptians blamed their exit from the World Cup on a conspiracy, Americans on President Trump’s intervention over a suspended player. Now Brazilians have come up with a theory as to why they were knocked out — the growth of evangelicalism over Catholicism.
This unusual debate has inflamed social media since the five-time champions crashed out of the tournament on Sunday, after a 2-1 defeat to Norway.
“Brazil was better when their players were womanisers, drunkards and slightly out of shape. In other words, when they were behaving like Catholics,” argued one account on X, describing itself as the “Institute for Hispano Studies” a “think tank”. It claimed that “evangelical Protestant sterilisation has flattened their ball, ruined their samba and obliterated their swag.”
The argument has since taken a nationalist tone, with many suggesting that born-again Christianity is a cultural import from the United States — a country with a hardly inspiring football track record — and so that was the root of the problem. “Pray like a gringo, play like a gringo” was how one meme put it.
In 2002, 80 percent of Brazilians described themselves as Catholic. That figure dropped to about 55 percent in the latest census. In 2002, just 15 percent of the Brazilian population called themselves evangelical or Protestant; now it is more than 25 percent.
Brazil was better when their players were womanizers, drunkards and slightly out of shape. In other words, when they were behaving like Catholics— letting the power of friendship and good fun do the heavy lifting.
Evangelical Protestant sterilization has flattened their ball,… https://t.co/6j0JUvwMYE pic.twitter.com/0HT5BJsU82— Institute for Hispano Studies (@hispano_studies) July 6, 2026
