The Sports Supplement of IBGE’s Basic Municipal Information (MUNIC) shows that, although 93.6% of Brazilian municipalities host sports events organized by or having some level of participation of the city government, the financial and institutional support, as well as the supply of personnel, equipment and infrastructure to these activities are still insufficient.

The Sports Supplement of IBGE’s Basic Municipal Information (MUNIC) shows that, although 93.6% of Brazilian municipalities host sports events organized by or having some level of participation of the city government, the financial and  institutional support, as well as the supply of personnel, equipment and infrastructure to these activities are still insufficient.  The persons employed in the field of sports-related activities made up,  in 2003,  only 1.4% of the total number of persons in the municipalities;  over 88% of the municipalities did not have a Municipal Sports Council; the resources directed to sports and leisure did not reach 1% of all the municipal expenses; not even half of the cities had signed contracts of  partnerships or accords related to sports; 88% of municipal schools did not have sports facilities – and the situation was even worse in the rural area. The supplement reinforces the belief that Brazil is the “soccer country”: 94.5% of the cities hosted activities related to this sport; 27.7% of the cities owned their own stadiums or had stadiums under municipal control, and the soccer fields were present in 74.8% of all municipalities.

The survey is part of a partnership between IBGE and the Ministry of Sports and was conducted in 2003, in 5.557 cities. 

Persons  employed in sports-related activities make up 1.4% of the municipalities working population

The survey showed that the persons employed in sports-related activities made up 1.4% of the total number of persons in the muncipalities, that is, 64,686 persons in 5,557 Brazilian municipalities. In the Southeast Region they represented 49.6% (32,098) of all the employed persons. The figures for the other regions were: 21.3% in the Northeast, 18.9% in the South, 5.5% in the Central West and 4.7% in the North. São Paulo (14,671). Rio de Janeiro (9,166) and Minas Gerais (7525) guaranteed the participation of almost 50% of the Southeast in the total number of persons employed in sports-related activities in the country. On average, 13 persons found themselves employed in sports-related activities in the Brazilian municipalities, an average number only inferior to the figure in the Southeast Region: 21 persons.  The average in the other regions was between 8 and 11 persons. The 33 municipalities with a population of more than 500 thousand inhabitants had the highest percentage of persons employed in the aforementioned type of activity – 28.3% (18,277) of the total. The average figure reached 609 persons, due to the necessity of providing the population of these municipalities with sports activities. The second highest percentage of persons employed in this case was registered in municipalities with a population between 5 and 20 thousand inhabitants (21.7%), once this group contains a bigger number of municipalities than the others.

According to the type of employment contract, over half of the persons employed in sports-related activities in the municipalities were statutory servants [1] (54.4%), followed by persons without an employment contract [2] (17.2%), celetistas [3] (16.7%) and the commissioned [4]ones (11.7%). In the Major Regions of the country, the participation of statutory workers in relation to the total number of workers ranged between 50 and 60%, with the highest result in Rio Grande do Sul (58.2%). The participation of celetistas ranged from 16 to18% in all the regions, and the highest index was calculated in the Northeast region (18.2%); the Central West Region was below this level (11.8%). This region had the highest percentage of only-commissioned workers (20.7%), especially in the state of Goiás. The participation of persons without an employment contract in comparison with the total number of persons employed in each of the Regions ranged from 12% (South) to 20% (Southeast) – the latter registered the highest percentage (20.3%).

In the analysis of employed persons by type of employment contract, by size of population, the highlight is the participation of statutory servants of municipalities with more than 500,000 inhabitants (62.7%) in relation to the total number of employed persons. Nevertheless, these municipalities were the ones to have the least significant participation of celetistas (6.6%) and of commissioned workers (4.0%). The municipalities in this population-size category had the highest proportion of persons without an employment contract (26.7%). In smaller municipalities, the group receiving only a commission played a more active role in the number of employees, reaching 25.1% in the municipalities with up to 5 thousand inhabitants, and 19.8% in those with a population ranging from 5 to 20 thousand inhabitants. The municipalities with a population between 100 and 500 thousand inhabitants concentrated the biggest number of celetistas (29%).

Persons with a degree in other areas or without a degree are the majority in the smallest municipalities

The Sports Supplement showed that, in the total of municipalities, the technical staff (64%) outnumbered the administrative staff (17.7%) and the support staff (18.3%). While there was increasing participation of the technical staff in relation to the size of the population, going from 52% in the group with up to 5 thousand inhabitants to 75% in the group with over 500 thousand inhabitants, the opposite happened to administrative staff:: decrease from 31% in the group with up to 5 thousand inhabitants to about 11% in the group with over 500 thousand inhabitants. Considering the Major Regions, the highest percentage of technical staff was found in the South (68.5%), of administrative staff, in the North (26.4%), and of support staff in the Central West Region.

Still in relation to the professional degree, the survey showed that in the municipalities with a population ranging from 50 to 500 thousand inhabitants, the sports-related activities are under the direct or indirect responsibility of the city government are performed, in most cases, by teachers and professionals with a degree in Physical Education. In the municipalities with a population ranging from 5 thousand to 50 thousand inhabitants, the same activities are performed by professionals with a degree in other areas or without any degree. The municipalities whose population ranges from 100 thousand to 500 thousand inhabitants have the highest percentage of Teachers and professionals with a degree in Physical Education (71.4%). The cities with a population of up to 5 thousand inhabitants have a lower percentage (35.5%). Most of the Professionals with a degree in other areas performing activities related to sports are concentrated in the municipalities with over 500 thousand inhabitants; the smallest number of them (2.6%) is found in the municipalities with 50 to 100 thousand inhabitants. Professional without a degree employed in sports-related activities have a relevant participation in the municipalities with up to 5 thousand inhabitants (55.1%) and form a smaller group (13.9%) in the cities with 100 to 500 thousand inhabitants. Interns without a degree make up 2.4% of the employed persons in the municipalities with up to 5 thousand inhabitants and 11.6% in the municipalities with 100 to 500 thousand inhabitants.

South Region has the biggest number of Sports Councils

Over 88% of the Brazilian municipalities did not have a Municipal Sports Council and 45.4% of them did not have any type of council (Sports, Education, Social Assistance, Children and Teenager Rights, among others) with programs in this field. The exception is the South Region, where approximately one third of the municipalities (34%) had a Sports Council; the highlight in this case is the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The smallest proportion was registered in the Northeast Region, where only 3.2% of the municipalities had a Council. About 85% of the municipalities surveyed had an Organic Law approaching sports activities; other laws having sports as its subject existed in only 17.6% of the municipalities.

City governments invest less than 1% of their money in sports

The Sports Supplement showed that the resources used in sports reached less than 1% of the total expenses of city governments. In 2002, they accounted for 0.96% of the total expenses, and, in 2003, for 0.90%. The lowest percentage was invested in the municipalities of the North Region: 0.66% in 2002 and 0.46% in 2003; the highest percentage refers to the Southeast Region: 1.10% in 2002 and 1.07% in 2003. In relation to the size of the population, the lowest percentages of expenses, both in 2002 (0.76%) and in 2003 (0.78%), were registered in the municipalities with over 500 thousand inhabitants. The highest percentage in 2002 was registered in the municipalities with a population ranging from 5 thousand to 20 thousand inhabitants (1.18%) and in 2003, in the municipalities ranging from 20 thousand to 50 thousand inhabitants and in those with 50 to 100 thousand inhabitants, both with 1.01%.

The expenses of the Brazilian municipalities with sports were concentrated in the Southeast Region, which accounted for  58.9% of the total, in 2002, and for 62.1%, in 2003. The expenses with sports and leisure activities increased, from 2002 to 2003, in the South (from 16.3% to 17.7%) and Southeast (58.9% to 62.1%) Regions, whereas it decreased in the North (from 4.1% to 3.0%), Northeast (14.7% to 12.1%) and Central West (6% to 5.1%). The resources directed to sports in the Brazilian municipalities, in relation to the size of the population, increased between 2002 and 2003 in the cities with over 500 thousand inhabitants (26.8% to 30.1%), and in those with 100 thousand to 500 thousand inhabitants (22.5% to 23.4%); there was decrease in the cities with up to 5 thousand (4.7% to 4.1%), 5 thousand to 20 thousand (18.4% to 15.6%) and with 20 thousand to 50 thousand (16% to 15.1%) inhabitants. The percentages remained virtually stable in the cities with a population between 50 thousand and 100 thousand inhabitants (11.7% to 11.6%).

Biggest municipalities received most transfers from the Union and from Brazilan states

The percentage of municipalities which received transfers related to expenses with sports and leisure from the Union or from states fell from 19.2% to 16.6% between 2002 and 2003.  Except in the Southeast (22.3% and 18.3%) and in the North (32.7% and 31.8%), the remaining regions had percentages inferior to the national averages of municipalities which received transfers in 2002 and in 2003: Central West (12.8% and 15.6%); South (15.9% and 12.8%), and Northeast (16.8% and 14.0%). In relation to the size of the population, the municipalities with a population of over 500 thousand inhabitants (27.3%, in 2002, and 30.3%, in 2003) represented the group receiving most transfers. The municipalities with up to 5 thousand inhabitants received the fewer transfers, both in 2002 and in 2003 (16.8% and 13.4% of the municipalities, respectively).

Of the 5,557 Brazilian municipalities, 2,441 (43.9%) signed accords or other type of partnership contracts related to sports [5]. In the distribution of this group (2,441), the Southeast was responsible for 32.1% of the municipalites with accords or partnerships, followed by the Northeast (28.1%) and South Regions (23.9%).  The North (7.7%) and the Central West (8.2%) Regions had the lowest percentages.  

The data show that, once partnerships are complementary to governmental activities, the establishment of municipal partnerships in the area of sports is still far from reaching its real possibilities.

The distribution of accords and partenrships by type of organization indicates that out of the four main partners or accord members, three were social entities – sports leagues (36.0%), clubs (34.9%) and private companies (25.6%) - and one was public  – public state organizations except those in the field of education (33.6%). On the hand, NGO’s (4.3%), federal, state and municipal higher education institutes (4.0%) and international organizations, except NGO’s (0.6%) were the least frequent partners.

Few cities have sports activities, projects and programs [6] directed to the disabled

Among the Brazilian municipalities, 77.1% developed, in 2003, activities, projects and programs related to sports and leisure: 70.3% in the field of educational sports; 47.8% in competition sports.

Regarding the Major Regions, the South concentrated the highest percentage of municipalities with actions, projects and programs of educational sports (81.8%); the Southeast had the lowest percentage (64.9%). The Central West (53.2%) was the leader in the field of competition sports and the Northeast had the lowest percentage (40.9%).  In terms of sports and leisure, the polarization was repeated, with the Central West in the first position (80.7%) and the Northeast in the last one, but still with a high percentage (72.2%).

It is worth mentioning that all the 33 municipalities with over 500 thousand inhabitants performed activities, projects and programs in the field of sports and leisure. The percentages of these municipalities, the biggest in the country, were also high in terms of educational (97%) and competition sports (93.9%).

Among these types of less-developed activities are projects and programs directed to the disabled: in terms of educational sports, only 5.6% of the cities offered some kind of activity directed to this public; the percentage fell even more in relation to competition sports (5.0%) and increased a little, but still remained low, in relation to sports and leisure (9.0%).

Only 6.4% of municipalities did not host sports events in 2003

Only 6.4% of the Brazilian municipalities did not host, in 2003, any type of sports event supported by the city government or with its participation. It means that 93.6% of the cities organized or co- organized sports events. Among the areas, the percentages ranged from 97% in the Central West to 92.3% in the Northeast Region; in terms of the division by size of the population, there were 89.9% in the smallest cities (with less than 5000 inhabitants) and 100% in the cities with over 100 thousand inhabitants.

Among the types of sports investigated, the most frequent sport in the municipalities which organized sport events was soccer (94.5% of the cities organized events related to this sport); it was followed by court soccer (66.0%), volleyball (60.5%) and track and fields (43.6%). The least frequent events were related to boccia (13.9%), table tennis and society soccer (a different type of soccer game played in Brazil) (16.4%) each.

Soccer events had relevant participation of municipalities in all the regions, ranging from 92% (South) to 98% (North). In the court soccer events, there were two special regions: Central West (74.8% of the municipalities) and South (70.4%). In the events including volleyball, the highlight was the reduced participation of the Northeast Region (47.8%), except in relation to the states of Bahia and Ceará.

As for cities which organized track and fields events, the Southeast Region had the smallest level of participation (36.8%), due, to a great extent, to the behavior of Rio de Janeiro, where only 56.0% of the municipalities had this type of event. Finally, it is worth mentioning boccia, which, as a regional sport, had most of its events concentrated in the South Region (41.3%).

The participation of municipalities which organized events in 2003 fell as the coverage of events increased. In general, the municipal events had the participation of  97.8% of municipalities; the intercity events, of 60.1%. the state ones, of 25.2%; the interstate events, of 7.5%; the national ones, of  5.0%, the international ones, of 2.7%. The highlight was the reduced participation of Northeastern municipalities in intercity events, 43.1%.

Gymnasiums are the most common sports facility [7]

On December 2003, 54.2% of the Brazilian municipalities had gymnasiums, and 27.7% had soccer stadiums. The presence, in the cities, of the remaining equipment surveyed was extremely low: 7.4% had sports complexes; 1.6% aquatic complexes; 1.1% kart race tracks; 0.2% car race tracks, and 0.03% had horse race tracks or similar places.

Among the Major Regions, the Central West and the South were the ones with the biggest participation among the municipalities whose city governments owned or administered stadiums: 82.3% and 75.5%, respectively. The states which were the highlights in this case were Paraná (83.2%) in the South, and Goiás (86.6%) in the Central West Region. As for soccer stadiums, the highlights are the participation of the municipalities in the South (36.1%) and Central West Region (34.4%) and of the states of São Paulo (51.6%) and Mato Grosso do Sul (50.6%).

Although there was a good number of municipalities with gymnasiums in the Central west, it was in the Southeast and South regions that most of (68.3%) these gymnasiums were found (4,186). The soccer stadiums were more commonly present in the Southeast (40.3%) and in the Northeast (24.2%), with Bahia and Ceará as the highlights.

Of the 139 aquatic complexes, 130 (93.5%) were located in the Southeast, being 120 (86.3%) in the state of São Paulo. The situation of sports complexes was similar: 470 of the 701 complexes (67.0%) were located in the Southeast, 331 (47.2%), in São Paulo. On the other hand, the North and Central West Regions did not have any aquatic complex.

The average audience attendance in gymnasiums and soccer stadiums was low, in general - an average of 1,565 persons in gymnasiums and  4,286 in stadiums. The aquatic complexes also received a small audience, in general (an average of 662 persons). 

With reference to the municipal public facilities [8] in 2003, the most frequent ones were soccer fields [9] (present in 74.8% of the municipalities) and the closed and open courts [10] (which existed in 66.2% of the municipalities) The least frequent facilities were skate, roller skate and similar tracks, present in only 45 of the cities, followed by covered fields and recreation swimming pools (5.2%). The Southeast Region had most of the facilities selected.

88% of municipal schools did not have sports facilities in 2003

In 2003, only 12% of the municipal public schools in the country had sports facilities; the South Region was the area with the highest percentage (27.9%), followed by the Southeast (26.5%), Central West (21.3%), North (4.7%) and Northeast (4.4%). The unbalance was still present in the analysis by size of population. In the cities with up to 100 thousand inhabitants, the percentage of schools with sports facilities ranged from 7.5% to 13.4%, whereas in the municipalities with 100 to 500 inhabitants, and with over 500 thousand inhabitants, the schools having facilities made up, respectively, 23.7% and 42.5%.

The situation of public schools in the rural area was even more serious. Only 2.5% of them had sports facilities. Among the Major Regions, these percentages ranged from 1.3% in the North and in the Northeast to 8.2% in the South.

Considering that the school is one of the most important institutions for the socialization of kids, that team sports play an essential role in this process and that the practice of sports at school makes children healthier, the aforementioned situation is alarming. Radical measures intended to change it are surely necessary.

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[1] Statutory worker is the servant whose employment contract is ruled by the Single Juridical Regulation – RJU, which controls hirings in the public service.

[2] Without a contract refers to persons contracted without the signing of an employment contract: workers under this type of contract for a limited period of time; volunteer workers; workers from other organizations temporarily working for city government; workers from other companies temporarily working for city government.

[3] Celetista is the worker whose employment contract is ruled by the private sector labor code –CLT.

[4] Commissioned workers are those working for city government or its related organizations and receiving a commission without the establishment of any employment contract. It can refer to high positions (mayors, secretaries, directors, assistants, etc) or to ordinary employs performing administrative and technical tasks at lower  hierarchical levels.  

[5] Not including those related to the institution managing the sport activities, but also those of other municipal institutions.

[6] The operation which results in a service in the area of sports and which helps reach the objectives of a project or program; a project is na instrument of planning which encompasses a group of actions aimed at a specific objective, established in a certain period of time; a program is na organization instrument aimed at the solution of a problem, and it is characterized by a group of projects having the same goals.

[7] Only the sports facilities and equipment under municipal responsibility were considered.

[8] The most common sports facilities were selected.

[9] Except the fields located in the soccer stadiums.

[10]Except the courts located in municipal schools or universities and in gymnasiums.