How Bahia became the most progressive football club in Brazil

"As the Bahia players walked on to the pitch for their Série A game against Ceará last month, there was something striking about their shirts. Their elegant blue, red and white stripes were covered by splotches of black around the neck, under the arms and on the hem. They had not accidentally spilled a pot of paint on the kit bag. Bahia were making a statement.

For the last 52 days, hundreds of tons of thick crude oil had been washing up on beaches in the north east of Brazil. Nobody knew where the oil was coming from and the government’s response was woefully inadequate. “We saw the news being spread,” says Bahia president Guilherme Bellintani. “But it was timid in relation to the scale of the disaster.” So the club decided to speak up.

Bahia’s intervention on the subject came as no surprise to football fans in Brazil. Over the last two years, the club have developed a reputation as the most democratic and socially engaged club in the country, running campaigns on issues such as racism, LGBTQ rights, the demarcation of indigenous lands and the treatment of female fans in football stadiums. At the same time, they have managed to reduce ticket prices, increase revenues, pay off some of the debt that was crippling the club and improve their results on the pitch."

read article by  Joshua Law

How Bahia became the most progressive football club in Brazil | Football | The Guardian