Women’s Soccer

With a record number of professional players (11 of 16 teams have fully professional rosters) and larger investments, the Brazilian women’s soccer season* got under way this past Sunday. The sixteen first division** teams compete in a round-robin (“pontos corridos” or “running points”) first phase; half of the teams will advance to the quarterfinals*** knockout (“mata-mata” or literally “kill-kill”) stage.

The teams are concentrated towards the South of Brazil and many of them will sound familiar to fans of the men’s version. There are 6 teams from São Paulo state (Corinthians, Ferroviária, Palmeiras, Santos, São José, and São Paulo), 2 from the Federal District (Minas Brasília and Real Brasília), 2 from Rio de Janeiro state (Botafogo and Flamengo), 2 from Rio Grande do Sul (Grêmio and Internacional), 2 from Santa Catarina (Avaí/Kinderman and Napoli), one from Minas Gerais (Cruzeiro), and one from the northeastern state of Bahia.

The Flamengo team are known as the “meninas da Gávea,” referring to the region of Rio they play in and one of the many Portuguese words for “girl.” The Minas from Brasília are using an affectionate diminutive of that same word. The team from Ferroviária are the “guerreiras,” literally the “warriors,” while the team from Santos are the “sereias” (“sirens”). The Kinderman team brand themselves as the “Caçadoras Havaianas,” literally the “Hawaiian Hunters” - because their parent club Avaí literally means Hawaii and they play in the town of “Caçador” (“Hunter”). And the team I’m rooting for (hint in the image above) are referred to with the very gaúcho-specific word for “girl”: “gurias.”

* In Brazil, soccer seasons are usually called a “championship” (“campeonato”) rather than a “season” (“temporada”), but both the men’s and the women’s championships are more commonly referred to as the “Brasileirão” - the “Big Brazilian.”
** The first division is called “Série A1” (the “A1 Series”) and there is a also a second division called “Série A2.” (For the men, it’s “Série A” and “Série B” - and also “Série C” and “Série D.)
*** In Portuguese, if there were a bracket round before the quarterfinals, it would be the “eighthfinals” (“oitavas de final”). I’m guessing we use “round of 16” in English because of that “ghthf” consonant cluster…