The book “The Negro in Brazilian Football” (1947), a classic by Mário Filho, brother of playwright Nelson Rodrigues, consecrated the player Francisco Carregal as the first black person to participate in a match in Brazil, defending Bangu against Fluminense, from Rio de Janeiro, on May 14, 1905. Research by historian José Moraes dos Santos Neto, carried out at the Unicamp Memory Center, intends to change the course of history: based on documents, mainly from the Campinas City Council, the researcher points out that Miguel do Carmo was the first Afro-descendant to set foot on a field in the country, in the then newly founded Ponte Preta, in 1900.
Like Carregal, who was an employee of Companhia Progresso Industrial do Brasil —and had a side activity in football—, Miguel do Carmo was a railway worker: he worked at Companhia Paulista de Estrada de Ferro. He was the son of enslaved people and was born free in 1885, benefiting from the Free Womb Law. The law, from 1871, granted freedom from that date on to children born to enslaved women. “When he was 15 years old, in 1900, Miguel participated in an amateur way, just as a boy, in the founding of the first Ponte Preta team”, said Santos Neto.
According to the historian’s research, the first Ponte Preta team was born within the Vila Operária of the Companhia Paulista de Estrada de Ferro, founded in 1868 to connect Jundiaí to Rio Claro, given the coffee expansion in that region. “In 1872, the company’s workers’ village was built in Campinas, and it was there that the football team was formed”, observed the historian. “It is important to highlight that in 1900, when this football team was created, the proletariat was inspired by the ideals of equality of anarchism, brought by immigrants, which is why a black player was accepted, contrary to what was happening in the rest of the country, where the sport was highly elitist.”
Some clubs, at the time Miguel do Carmo emerged in football, had rules that went so far as to explicitly prohibit the presence of black people on their staff. Despite the unprecedented nature of placing the first Afro-descendant on the field, Ponte Preta took more than a century to have its first black president. It was only in 2019, when Sebastião Arcanjo, Tiãozinho, took over the position after José Armando Abdalla resigned. He remained president until 2022.
The history and name of Ponte Preta are linked to the neighborhood where the club was founded. According to journalist and researcher Edu Cerioni, the railroad, with its tracks, isolated a neighborhood in Campinas, where there were around 200 small houses — one of them inhabited by Miguel do Carmo. There were protests from residents —due to the isolation— and a bridge was installed by Companhia Paulista, being painted with tar for greater conservation. “It was she who inspired the name of the neighborhood for Ponte Preta and also named the new athletic association that was emerging”, explained Cerioni.
Miguel played for a short time in this Ponte Preta team, until 1904, according to Santos Neto. He then continued his career as a railway worker, at Companhia Paulista, as a line inspector, until 1925. The only remaining photograph of the athlete is from that company’s functional portfolio. He died in 1932, aged 47.
Raquel do Carmo, Miguel’s granddaughter, who lives in Campinas, said that until learning about the historian’s research, the family was unaware of the unprecedented nature of her grandfather’s football performance. “We never imagined that he was the first black person, it was a surprise,” he said. “It’s a shame we don’t have any record of him, everything was erased by time.”
She said that her grandparents had eight children, and her grandmother had to raise them alone after her husband’s death. “Survival was tough and there was no time to cultivate memory.”
Despite the lack of records, interest in football remained in the family and three of Miguel’s great-grandchildren attempted professional careers. None managed to move forward, but one of them, Lucas do Carmo, Raquel’s son, became a professional as an individual tactical analyst for athletes. “I work on the performance of players who play in Brazil and abroad”, said Lucas. “My great-grandfather’s story became our main heritage and is in our blood.”
This story gained international prominence through a letter sent, in 2003, by researcher Santos Neto to FIFA (International Football Federation), reporting his discovery. In response, the entity’s head of public relations, Frederico Addiechi, stated: “Stories like this and efforts in favor of integration and against any form of discrimination are a positive legacy for world football and an example that should be imitated throughout the world.”
