Repeating the feat of 2025, national cinema continues to shine in the awards season. On the eve of the nominations for the Oscarwhich will be revealed on January 22, the “The Secret Agent” inspires an unprecedented collection of football shirts that brings together, for the first time, three major clubs in Recife: Náutico, Santa Cruz and Sport.
Directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho, it follows the story of Marcelo (), a teacher specialized in technology who leaves São Paulo in search of tranquility in Recife. There, however, he finds himself immersed in a scenario of repression during the Military Dictatorship.
Between surveillance, silence and conspiracies, the film builds its atmosphere based on everyday details, and football emerges as one of these central elements, functioning as a collective refuge, urban ritual and cultural expression of the city.
From this unique perspective, the collection developed by , which transforms the narrative universe into pieces that dialogue directly with the affective memory of Recife in the 1970s, was born. Inspired by the iconic shirts of the time, the t-shirts rescue the aesthetics of the teams’ uniforms, connecting Brazilian cinema and sporting identity in the same symbolic gesture.
Inside the collection
The collection is made up of three items: O Agente Secreto and Náutico shirt, O Agente Secreto and Santa Cruz shirt and O Agente Secreto and Sport Recife shirt. Each piece incorporates visual elements from the film, translating the encounter between cinematic narrative and football into prints that celebrate belonging, memory and popular culture.
“In the film, football appears organically in Brazilian daily life, on the radio, in the streets, in conversations. The t-shirts are based on this same logic: showing that cheering is part of life and our cultural identity. It is a celebration of football as an expression of pride in being Brazilian”, says Vitor Vizeu, marketing director at Chico Rei, to CNN.
As for Bernardo, release manager at Vitrine Filmes, the collection also expands the reach of the film. “The Secret Agent is a film that talks about Brazil through everyday details, and football is one of those elements that help build this atmosphere of time and belonging. Seeing this narrative gain new layers through fashion, especially in a partnership that involves such symbolic clubs in Recife, is a powerful way of keeping the film alive beyond the screen”, he states.
Much more than revisiting a historic rivalry, the launch proposes a rare symbolic gesture in Brazilian football: for the first time, Náutico, Santa Cruz and Sport enter the field on the same side. The cup that unites them is not on the pitch, but on the screen — with the expectation of seeing national cinema, once again, being celebrated at the Oscars.
All pieces are sold for the price of R$ 244,90.
