MARICA, Brazil (AP) — When Savio Conrado Mula left his indigenous village on stilts deep in the Amazon rainforest in early April, he did so with hopes of representing his people as a professional soccer player and one day playing for Brazil’s national team in the World Cup.
Mulla’s first step towards earning the chance to wear the famous yellow jersey, once worn by Pele and many other Brazilian soccer greats, will take place on Sunday in an empty stadium in Rio de Janeiro with a team made up entirely of indigenous players.
The 21-year-old goalkeeper, who took his surname from the Muras of his hometown, has shed his headdress and ribbon to make his professional debut with Orinarios, a new soccer club in Rio’s fifth division that primarily features players aged 23 and under. He and 25 other young men from 13 Brazilian indigenous groups live, train and prepare about 25 miles (40 kilometers) away in Marica, a city of 200,000 people. From Rio.
“I’m already a role model in the community,” Mulla told The Associated Press after Thursday’s training session. “If it is God’s will for me to play in the World Cup, I will accept it.”
Mura is said to be the only person to leave his village near the city of Outazes, which borders one of the small tributaries of the vast Amazon River, to pursue a career as a professional soccer player. To begin his professional career with Originalios, he set out deep in the rainforest and took three days by boat, car and plane to reach Rio.
The Originalarios team brings together athletes from 10 Brazilian states, 15 of whom were selected from around 400 videos of indigenous athletes. Coach Wesley Terena, who has experience in amateur tournaments, brought in players he trusts. The original team of women players is scheduled to begin play in 2027, when Brazil hosts the Women’s World Cup.
Off the field, the players live together, sing songs in their native language and cover their bodies in war paint, keeping traditions alive. But when soccer practice begins, they focus on drills, ball control, and fitness.
Their first match will be against Rio-based team Barcelona. The team will be named after a more famous Spanish club and will play in the blue and dark red colors previously worn by Lionel Messi, Josep Guardiola, Johan Cruyff and Brazil’s great players such as Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Neymar.
1% of the population
The Originalíos project, which traversed villages thousands of miles (kilometers) from remote waterways in the Amazon to urban Rio, illustrates how difficult it is for Brazil’s indigenous people to develop their talents without leaving their communities. Although they sometimes play in tournaments in their home country, they are all amateurs and are largely unknown to most people in this soccer-mad South American country.
According to government statistics, Brazil’s indigenous population accounts for less than 1% of the country’s 213 million people. Although there have been some players with indigenous roots on Brazilian league teams and on the Brazilian national team, no fully indigenous player has ever played in one of the top four divisions.
Although the Originalrios are a professional team, their players’ salaries are not made public and much of the organization is still amateurish. The players must ride a school bus loaned by Marika City and practice at rented facilities. Practice must be finished by 11 a.m. because the kids will be picked up by the bus soon.
But those hurdles shouldn’t bother players.
“I’m very focused on soccer right now,” said team member Edilson Nunez da Silva Karai Milim, 25, who is from the Guarani Mbiya tribe. He likes to entertain his teammates by playing the guitar. “This song, written in my own words, says that the sun may rise and give us strength. It gives us strength in our daily struggles and that every day can be a blessing.”
original originalios
Founded in 1981, Gavien Kiikateje led a mostly indigenous team in 2014, playing in the top division in the Para state championship. The club currently plays in the second division and the team is a mixed team.
Some players on Brazil’s national team who played in the World Cup claim to have indigenous roots, such as Garrincha, who won soccer’s top prize in 1958 and 1962 as a teammate of Pele, and Paulinho, who played in the 2014 and 2018 tournaments.
Anderson Tella, the team’s manager, is the brains behind Originalios. He is also the president of the Institute Terra do Saber, which works with the Guarani Mbiya residents of the city of Marica.
Terra said the formation of the team was made possible through a deal with Rio-based club Ceres. Seles had the right to play in the league, but there were no plans to form a soccer team this year, he said. Otherwise, Orinarios would have had to raise up to 1.3 million Brazilian reals (approximately $260,000) for participation in the tournament from local and national soccer organizations.
“We do not want to reach the Brazilian top league. It is important to compete and it will be so, but our main goal is to provide opportunities,” Terra said. “Most of them come because they have a dream. This tournament is for players 23 and under, and there are only five players over that age.”
Even if moving up the ranks in Rio’s lower leagues doesn’t happen soon, Orinarios already has an offer to play abroad and wear a special red shirt. It is named after urukum, a natural paint used by Brazil’s indigenous peoples as a symbol of strength and life.
“(Soccer) is more than just a game,” the team’s Instagram profile read ahead of their debut. “It’s a landmark, it’s a resistance, it’s a point of pride.”
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Savarese reported from Sao Paulo. Associated Press writer Mario Lobão contributed to this report.
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