Brazil

Founded in 1914 and affiliated to FIFA since 1923, the Confederaçao Brasileira de Futebol (CBF) boasts a staggering list of honours: five FIFA World Cups™, eight Copa Americas, four FIFA World Youth Championships, three FIFA Under-17 World Championships, two FIFA Confederations Cups, three FIFA Futsal World Championships, one FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup and dozens of continental trophies. Few federations have left anything like the same mark on international football.

In fact, the only sour note for the country that produced Pele came in the final of 'their' 1950 FIFA World Cup. Watched by 174,000 stunned supporters packed into the mythical Maracana stadium, the Seleçao let the fourth edition of the Jules Rimet Cup slip from their grasp in a 2-1 defeat to Uruguay.

Football occupies pride of place in Brazil, and although Brazilians are also passionate about volleyball, basketball, tennis, formula-one and other motor sports, only the legendary Ayrton Senna is revered in quite the same way as the country's most famous exponents of 'the beautiful game'.

Chief among them is O Rei, Pele, whose name is almost synonymous with Brazilian sport itself, but a whole raft of unique talents have worn the Auriverde shirt with distinction down the years: Leonidas, Garrincha, Didi, Vava, Zagallo, Tostão, Zico, Jairzinho, Carlos Alberto, Socrates, Bebeto, Romario, Cafu, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Roberto Carlos. The list of players who have etched their names into the collective memory is quite literally breathtaking.

If just one name had to stand alone, however, it would have to be that one of the greatest footballers of all time. Born Edson Arantes Do Nascimento, Pele's unrivalled skill had people sitting up and taking notice from a very early age. The young prodigy was first spotted when he was 11 and joined Santos FC at 15, thus embarking upon his long love affair with the club. Less than a year later, he scored on his debut against Corinthians and, in 1958, he made the long trip to Sweden to star in his very first FIFA World Cup when still only 17. In many ways, Pele came of age with the tournament itself, as fans the world over fell under his charm, glued to the first ever televised final. Two more FIFA World Cup triumphs later, and having scored a world-record 1,281 goals in 1,363 games, O Rei called time on his brilliant career in 1977.

Brazilian football continues to produce exceptional new talents, though, and these days it is superstars Ronaldinho (Ronaldo Assis De Moreira) and Kaka (Ricardo Izecson Santos Leite) who are thrilling football-lovers the world over.

Futsal and beach soccer are also taken extremely seriously by the Auriverdes, as the success of the national teams in these two disciplines shows. They have picked up three of the five FIFA Futsal World Championships disputed so far and their record in Beach Soccer is even more impressive. Just two out of 12 World Championship trophies has eluded them, the 2001 tournament that went to the 'Brazilians of Europe', Portugal, and the 2005 edition won by France.

History
The first inhabitants of present-day Brazil were the Arawak and Carib Indians in the north, the Tupi-Guarani along the coast and in the Amazon Basin, the Ge to the east and south, and the Pano tribes in the west.

It is often said that the first European explorer to set foot in the country was Spaniard Vicente Yanez Pinzon, who supposedly landed near the site of modern-day Recife on 26 January 1500. Officially, however, it is Portuguese Pedro Alvares Cabral who is regarded as the discoverer of Brazil. His fleet, in search of the Indias, sailed into the South of modern-day Bahia on 22 April 1500. Since 1530, the Portuguese Crown implemented a colonising policy that lasted centuries and ended when Dom Pedro I declared the country's independence on 7 September 1822.

After 1822, Brazil was governed by an imperial dynasty until a military revolt led by General Manuel Deodoro da Fonseca forced Emperor Dom Pedro II to abdicate in November 1889. The country became a republic and, despite a long period of instability and even military dictatorship between 1964 and 1985, it now enjoys the fruits of democracy.

Current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was elected on 27 October 2002 and has held the post since his inauguration on 1 January 2003.

Economy
Predominantly agrarian until recently, Brazil underwent rapid industrial growth throughout the 1960s and 1970s, and by the 1980s possessed a fundamentally modern, diversified economy. This development went hand in hand with heavy exploitation of its natural resources, in particular coal and iron ore.

Nearly a quarter of the world's coffee comes from Brazil, with its plantations spread around the states of Sao Paulo, Parana, Esperíto Santo and Minas Gerais. Likewise, Brazil is one of the foremost producers of sugar cane, used not only to make sugar but also the alcohol that fuels 2.5 million specially-designed vehicles. Production levels of ricin, cocoa, corn and oranges are among the highest in the world as well, while soy, tobacco, potato, cotton, rice, wheat, manioc and bananas are also produced in large quantities. In addition, sheep and cattle are reared in almost every state.

The Brazilian rainforest is another source of natural riches, including tung oil, rubber, carnauba oil, caroa fibre, medicinal plants, vegetable oils, resins, timber for construction and various woods used in furniture-making. Brazil has also begun mining fairly recently, again taking advantage of its abundant natural resources.

Geography
The largest country in South America, Brazil stretches over almost half of the continent. With the Atlantic Ocean on its eastern coastline, Brazil shares frontiers with Venezuela, Guyana, French Guyana and Surinam to the north. Its neighbours to the west are Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia and Peru, while Colombia is to the north-west and Uruguay directly south. Of all the countries in South America, only Chile and Ecuador do not border Brazil.

With a surface area of 8,547,404 km², Brazil is the fifth largest country on the planet behind Russia, China, Canada and the United States. It covers 4,345 km from north to south between its furthest points and 4,330 km from east to west. The highest population concentrations are along the Atlantic coastlines, most notably in the two largest cities, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The capital Brasilia has a population of 2,094,000, according to 2003 estimates, and it is situated over 1,000 km inland.

Facts and Figures
Brazil has as many as 184,101,110 inhabitants, making it the fifth most populated country on Earth. Almost 88 per cent of them are Catholics, whilst another five million are Protestants. Brazil's Jewish community is very small by comparison.

The country is divided into five regions (Centre-West, North, Northeast, South and Southeast), which are themselves divided into 26 states. Rio de Janeiro, the city which hosted the first three FIFA Beach Soccer World Cups (2005, 2006 and 2007) is in Rio state, part of the Southeast region.

Known for its enormous hydroelectric potential, this region is the most heavily-populated in Brazil with 73 million inhabitants, roughly 40 per cent of the total. It is also the most densely-populated (78.09 inhabitants per km²) and has the highest urbanisation rate at 90 per cent. A typical landmark in this part of the world are the rounded 'sea range' and 'sugarloaf' mountain formations - granite mountains with pointed peaks.

The official language is Portuguese, however many Brazilians speak other languages according to their origins. German and Italian, for example, are fairly prevalent in the cities of the South. But, of course, all Brazilians have one form of expression in common - samba!