Black Consciousness: Meet the National Team’s idols for the racial struggle

There was no one who wasn’t moved by the mosaic raised during the Brazilian national team’s anthem in the match against Uruguay, in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

While the voices of “you will see that your son will not run away from the fight” filled the Fonte Nova Arena, the images of Vini. Jr, Pelé, Ronaldo Fenômeno, Romário, Garrincha, Djalma Santos and Nilton Santos covered the stands, in a tribute to Black Awareness Day, celebrated a day later, on November 20th.

Still, many of the fans in the stands do not know the stories of struggle, resistance and power of these and many other athletes who, through sport, took the anti-racist fight forward and defended racial equality.

The mosaic was a step – the next step is to know and understand who the idols were who, far beyond the ball, represented Brazil and Canarinha around the world.

If there is one word that defines Vinicius Jr’s fight, it is representation. Taking the image of thousands of black boys who dream of one day being the best player in the world to the biggest stages of world football, Vini has faced and continues to face retaliation of all types essentially in Europe, since becoming a Real Madrid player.

In addition to his undeniable talent with the ball, Vini became the biggest voice in the anti-racist fight in Spain, being largely responsible for the first laws and prisons against racism in a country that never criminalized it.

The attacks on Vini were countless, bordering on the absurd. Between a doll of the player hanging from a viaduct in Spain alongside banners saying “Madrid hates Real” and a plan to mobilize an entire fan base to wear masks at a game so they can offend him for his color without getting caught, which Here in Brazil it was already a crime and is starting to become a crime in Spain too, due to the struggle he is fighting.

Even on the stages that have already betrayed him, such as the Ballon d’Or organized by UEFA and France Football, Vini has already risen through his fight, when in 2023, he won the Sócrates Award, which honors the solidarity of athletes, for the social actions that carries out with the Vini Jr Institute, helping needy children.

With each game in which Vini raises his hand and makes the anti-racist symbol, whether wearing the shirt of the only five-time world champion team or the biggest club in the world in terms of titles, he takes a step forward in the resistance against global racism.

The king of football is known around the world, more than anything, for his incomparable quality. Winner of three World Cups, Pelé is recognized worldwide as the greatest of all time, and the only one to score a thousand goals so far.

The importance is so great that a war in Nigeria stopped to watch Pelé play. In an internal agreement, the conflict ceased for 48 hours, so that Nigerians could watch the king of football on the field.

In his own thousandth goal, he was already using his stage to defend where he came from and who is still there. In 1969, when he scored the immortal goal in the match between Santos and Vasco, he dedicated the feat to the marginalized childhood faced by Brazilian children.

But its quality and importance go far beyond the fields. A historical reference in the anti-racist fight, Pelé was the main defender of black people voting for black candidates, when he was Extraordinary Minister of Sports, in 1995.

Called “gasolina”, “monkey”, “creole” and countless other pejorative names, Pelé spent his entire life denying that he suffered racism. But the cases were undeniable. In the biography “Pelé: black star in green fields”, a negative point in his story was described by Angélica Basthi as coverage by O Cruzeiro magazine.

“The reporter gives an introduction to how blonde white European girls were enchanted by black players. The report features an episode of a mother and her daughter, who see Pelé and say “mommy, he talks”. In other words, it associates the black body with the animal, which was precisely what justified black slavery in Brazil and the world for a long time,” he wrote.

The first time he spoke out was when goalkeeper Aranha suffered an episode of racism, and he reacted. At the time, Pelé stated that “if he had stopped every game that involved racism, they would have had to stop every game he played in his life”.

For Romário, he is the black man who won the world. Having played on four continents, for teams in the Americas (Olaria, Vasco, Flamengo, Fluminense, América and Miami-FC), Europe (PSV, Barcelona and Valencia), Asia (Al-Sadd) and Oceania (Adelaide United) , the “shorty” was known throughout the world for his talent.

With the projection he gained, he never stopped remembering where he came from: “I am a global black man. That’s really cool. I’m very happy to talk about this, because it’s important to know our history, who we were. Our ancestors, our origin.”

The only continent he didn’t play on was Africa, which he says is special to him in another way. When, when taking a DNA test, he discovered that he had mixed genetic material from different countries and continents, he commented on the presence of African genes.

“Feeling represented, I feel represented in everyone. But of course, Africa has something like that that’s more my thing, right? Despite this, the possibility of having ancestors from there had never occurred to me,” he said in an interview with Uol.

Today, senator for PL-RJ, Romário uses his voice to comment on cases of racism in sport, and fight for equality. “Until they take more drastic decisions to completely ban people who practice racism, football will not improve. There is already a very strong combat movement, it is happening. But in my opinion, it is still lacking. People have to be arrested,” he commented.

Three times best in the world, Ronaldo Fenômeno shone on the field in the eyes of all countries, winning the World Cup in 2002. Throughout his career, racist insults did not fail to make their presence felt, being responded to both at the time and afterwards.

In 2005, Real Madrid fans, the team he played for, shouted insults because of the color of his skin, and he responded by throwing an empty plastic bottle into the stands. But for many years, Ronaldo remained silent about the racism he suffered.

It was after he retired that he began to comment on situations, with firm and striking statements about what he suffered, and what so many athletes suffer to this day.

“It is difficult for those who do not suffer from it to perceive structural racism. People do not recognize themselves as racists, but they promote segregation, directly or indirectly, in our customs. Anyone who denies racism is racist”, said Ronaldo.

In confusion, internal or external, about his own identity, Fenômeno even declared himself white, stating, in 2005, that “all black people suffer. I, who am white, suffer from ignorance.”

Since retiring, Fenômeno has commented on his social networks about cases of racism in the world of sport, positioning himself in favor of the anti-racist fight at every opportunity. “The cases of racial discrimination last weekend, in the Italian Championship, are regrettable and disgusting. The League should take a serious and rigorous stance. At the very least, with punishments that included loss of points, closed doors in subsequent games and the imposition of a fine”, he commented on a case of racism suffered by Mario Balotelli, Brescia striker.

The pinnacle of a football player’s career is the World Cup. Still, for some, the championship marks many more struggles than glory. This is the case of Garrincha, who in the 1958 World Cup started as a reserve out of pure prejudice.

After Brazil’s runner-up finish in the 1950 World Cup, an opinion became popular that black players did not have the “emotional conditions” to play relevant matches. The phrases that black and brown people “were out in decisive games” were frequent, and led to the starting teams being made up of white players.

Garrincha was one of those who, with resistance and football, achieved the title and became world champion in the first Brazilian Cup.

Starting for Brazil in four consecutive World Cups, Djalma Santos is a immortal star in the Brazilian national team. A professional between 1948 and 1972, long before the space that, albeit little, is now more conquered by the anti-racist struggle, he was the one who said that “black people are worth as much as white people, maybe even more”.

In his struggle and resistance, Djalma stated that one day black people would have representatives in Chambers, Legislative Assemblies and the National Congress, when this was still a very distant reality.

“One day, black people will unite and have their representatives in the Chambers, in the Legislative Assemblies, in the National Congress. Then we’ll see,” he commented.

In addition to prejudice, Djalma was proud of the color of his skin: “I’m a black person who likes the race (…). My companions can’t do without my ‘teasing’ and they call me ‘Negrão’. But this ‘Negrão’ sounds so good to me that it feels like they’re calling me brother.”

Elected by FIFA in 2000 as the best left-back of all time, Nilton Santos left his name far beyond the Botafogo stadium in Rio de Janeiro. A member of the Brazilian team in the 1950, 1954, 1958 and 1962 World Cups, he was two-time world champion with Brazil.

Nilton was known as the “football encyclopedia”, for his intelligence and unusual vision of the game. It’s fair to say that he revolutionized his position, which before was just defensive, and after him, it started to have attacking characteristics.

He even caught the attention of the whole world when, in the 1958 World Cup, he scored a goal against Austria, as a left-back.