Turkish football as seen through eyes of Brazilians

Until the 1980s, Brazilian people didn’t care too much about the European football leagues. They only started to take notice when some of the country’s top footballers began to transfer to Italian and Spanish clubs. That’s when Brazilian football fans started to keep track of Brazilian players abroad.

Over the past two decades, the Italian Serie A and the Spanish La Liga have been very popular in Brazil. Later, during the 2000s, the British Premier League started to grow in popularity among football enthusiasts, as did the UEFA Champions League. These leagues are also the ones that receive the most Brazilian media coverage. But what about Turkish football? When did the Brazilian people start to take an interest, and why?Former Brazilian midfielder Didi worked as a coach at Fenerbahçe in the 1970s, but this didn’t attract any media attention at the time.

More than 20 years later, this all changed when one of the best Brazilian goalkeepers of all time, Cláudio Taffarel, signed with Galatasaray. After winning the World Championship with Brazil in 1994, he attracted the interest from Brazilian media and fans alike whilst at Galatasaray. Winning the 1999-2000 UEFA Cup and the 2000 UEFA Super Cup -- at a time when Brazilian striker Mário Jardel also joined the club -- increased Galatasaray’s popularity in Brazil.

However, it was just a peak of popularity. After Taffarel’s retirement and Jardel’s transfer to Portuguese side Sporting, the interest faded.

Turkish football grabbed the fans’ attention a few years later when Zico was hired as coach of Fenerbahçe, and the club signed a host of Brazilian players.

Evergreen Alex de Souza

The best known of the bunch, without question, was midfielder Alex de Souza. Since 2004, he has been the undisputed star of the Yellow Canaries, as Fenerbahçe is also known. Whenever you enter a Fenerium store, you see a big picture of him right at the entrance. Alex led the team to its most successful European campaign ever -- the 2006-07 UEFA Champions League -- when Fenerbahçe made it to the quarterfinals.

The team in those days also employed the likes of fellow countrymen Edu Dracena, Roberto Carlos and Mehmet Aurelio (a Brazil-born Turk) as well as striker Deivid de Souza.

Featuring in the Champions League with so many Brazilians in the squad meant Fenerbahçe’s popularity steadily grew in Brazil, becoming more popular than Galatasaray in the process.

Even the most diehard football fans in Brazil could be seen sporting the yellow and blue striped shirts with the names of Alex or Roberto Carlos, whereas children would choose the Yellow Canaries when playing videogames.

As the Turkish league does not receive much media coverage in Brazil -- only the 2009-2010 season was broadcast, albeit through pay TV only -- people nowadays don’t show that much interest in Turkish football. However, two other Turkish teams, Beşiktaş and Trabzonspor, from time to time gain some attention in Brazil. Strikers Deivson Rogério da Silva, commonly known as Bobô, and Jackson Avelino Coelho, who is nicknamed Jajá, in the past have plied their trade at Beşiktaş and Trabzonspor, respectively. Due to their league success of recent years, Beşiktaş winning the title in 2008-09 and Trabzonspor being last year’s runner-up, the two teams have begun to make a name for themselves in Brazil. Trabzonspor made waves when the team defeated Italy’s Internazionale in the group stage of the 2011-2012 UEFA Champions League.

Felipe Melo

At present, Galatasaray is once again in the Brazilian limelight as it retained the services of Felipe Melo for this season. The people in Brazil are curious how Melo is faring after being held responsible for Brazil’s disastrous elimination from the last World Cup due to a 2-1 loss against the Netherlands, a match during which Melo received a red card for intentionally planting his feet on Dutch winger Arjen Robben’s thigh. Not only have Turkish teams gained some popularity in Brazil, but also some Turkish players have made a name for themselves. Rüştü Reçber, Hasan Şaş and Hakan Şükür all become known during the 2002 World Cup tournament, when Turkey was twice defeated by the Brazilian national team, the scores being 2-1 in the group stage and 1-0 in the semifinals.