What Sport Is Brazil Best At? The Truth About Brazil and Rugby

When people think of Brazil, they think of football. It’s everywhere - from the favelas of Rio to the beaches of Copacabana. But if you’re asking what sport Brazil is best at, the answer isn’t as simple as it seems. Football might be the national obsession, but in terms of international competitiveness, consistency, and rising global impact, Brazil’s real powerhouse isn’t on the soccer pitch. It’s on the rugby field.

Rugby Is Brazil’s Secret Weapon

Brazil’s national rugby team, the Tupi, doesn’t play in the World Cup finals like the football team does. But they’ve quietly become one of the most improved teams in the Southern Hemisphere. Since 2015, Brazil has climbed from outside the top 30 to consistently ranking in the top 15 in World Rugby’s official standings. In 2024, they beat Chile for the 12th time in a row, won the Sudamérica Rugby Cup, and narrowly lost to Uruguay - a team that’s been in the top 10 for over a decade.

What’s more, Brazil’s men’s sevens team finished 7th in the 2024 World Rugby Sevens Series - the highest finish ever for a non-traditional rugby nation. That’s more than Canada, more than Fiji’s second team, and ahead of teams like Samoa and Georgia in tournament points. They didn’t get there by accident. Brazil invested in youth academies, hired former All Blacks coaches, and started building dedicated rugby infrastructure in São Paulo and Curitiba.

Why Rugby? Not Football

You might be wondering: if Brazil has 200 million people and a football culture that’s practically religious, why isn’t football dominating internationally? The answer is simple - they already do. Brazil’s football team is world-class, yes. But the gap between them and the rest of the world is so wide that it’s not a competitive challenge anymore. They win because they’re Brazil. There’s no pressure to improve - they just show up and win.

Rugby is different. Brazil doesn’t have a natural advantage in rugby. They don’t have the physical build of South Africa, the tactical discipline of New Zealand, or the tradition of England. So they had to build something new. And they did - with speed, agility, and raw athleticism. Brazilian players are smaller on average than their European rivals, but they’re faster. Their backline moves like a samba rhythm. They’re the only team in the world that combines rugby with capoeira-style footwork.

Take João Vitor, Brazil’s fly-half. He’s 5’8”, 165 pounds - tiny by international standards. But in the 2024 Sudamérica Cup, he ran for 145 meters in one match, made 11 clean breaks, and set up three tries. He didn’t come from a rugby family. He grew up playing futsal in Belo Horizonte. He switched to rugby at 17 because the local club offered free meals and a place to train. Now he’s the face of Brazil’s rugby revolution.

The Rise of Brazilian Rugby Academies

In 2018, Brazil had fewer than 50 registered youth rugby clubs. By 2025, that number is over 320. The government didn’t fund this. Local communities did. Parents saw their kids getting disciplined, fit, and staying out of trouble. Schools started offering rugby as a physical education option. And it stuck.

Curitiba’s Escola de Rugby do Sul now trains 1,200 kids aged 8 to 18. Their program doesn’t focus on winning tournaments - it focuses on building character. The coaches use rugby to teach teamwork, respect, and resilience. Over 70% of their graduates go on to college - many on rugby scholarships in the U.S. and Canada.

Even in Rio, where football rules the streets, you’ll find kids playing seven-a-side rugby on the sand at Ipanema. The Rio Sevens tournament, held every December, now draws over 15,000 spectators - more than the local football league’s cup final.

Brazil vs. the World: What They’ve Achieved

Here’s what Brazil has done in rugby since 2020:

• Won the Sudamérica Rugby Cup four years in a row (2021-2024)
• Qualified for the 2023 Rugby World Cup Sevens - first time ever
• Beaten Portugal, Romania, and Georgia in test matches
• Produced 11 players who now play professionally in Europe (France, England, Japan)
• Increased female rugby participation by 400% since 2020

They didn’t win the World Cup. But they didn’t need to. They turned a sport with almost zero history into a national movement.

Why Nobody Talks About It

The media ignores Brazil’s rugby rise because it doesn’t fit the story. Football is the myth. Brazil = football. It’s easier to repeat that than to explain how a country with no rugby tradition built a world-class team from scratch. But if you watch the 2024 World Sevens Series highlights, you’ll see something unexpected: Brazilian players celebrating with samba drums after scoring, their jerseys covered in green and yellow, and crowds chanting their names like rock stars.

There’s no glamour in this story. No billionaire owners. No TV deals. Just kids playing on dusty fields, coaches working for minimum wage, and a country slowly realizing that greatness doesn’t always come from tradition - sometimes it comes from reinvention.

What’s Next for Brazilian Rugby?

Brazil is now pushing to host the 2029 Rugby World Cup Sevens. They’ve already secured land in São Paulo and got city approval. The plan? Build a 20,000-seat rugby-specific stadium - the first of its kind in Latin America. If they pull it off, it’ll be the biggest moment in the country’s rugby history.

They’re also investing in women’s rugby. The Tupi Women’s Team beat Argentina 24-19 in 2024 and are now ranked 11th in the world. Their captain, Mariana Costa, is a former Olympic sprinter who switched to rugby after an injury. She says, “In football, you’re just another face in the crowd. In rugby, you’re needed. Every single play matters.”

By 2030, Brazil could have two professional rugby clubs - one in São Paulo, one in Rio. That’s not fantasy. It’s already in the pipeline.

So, What Sport Is Brazil Best At?

Football? Yes. But best? Not anymore.

Rugby is where Brazil is improving fastest, where talent is being discovered in places no one expected, and where the future is being built by kids who never thought they’d be athletes. Brazil isn’t just good at rugby - they’re rewriting what’s possible.

If you want to see the next big thing in global rugby, don’t look at New Zealand. Don’t look at South Africa. Look south. Look at Brazil. They’re coming.