The Confederação Brasileira de Futebol Americano (CBFA) (translation: American Football Brazilian Confederation), is the main organization for

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. Its goal is to help the growth of American football and its development in the country.

History

In the summer of 1986, a small group of boys started playing American football on weekends on

Copacabana beach Copacabana () is a ''bairro'' (neighbourhood) located in the South Zone of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is most prominently known for its 4 km (2.5 miles) balneario beach, which is one of the most famous in the wor ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

. Over the next six years, interest and attendance grew until a team was formed; the Rio Guardians was founded on January 4, 1992, becoming the first American football team in Rio de Janeiro. In 1994, Mel Owens organized a

flag football Flag football is a variant of American football where, instead of tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or flag belt from the ball carrier ("deflagging") to end a down. The sport has a strong amateur following ...

workshop. This was the first time Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon appeared in the sport. The Mamutes, with their red shirts, became the first opponent on the beaches of Rio Guardians. After some departures between 1994 and 1997, the nucleus of what eventually became the Association of

began organized play, starting a league and accompanying Carioca Bowl, with six teams. After seven years, after expanding viewership with international broadcasts and demonstrations for NFL stars such as

Tony Gonzalez Anthony David Gonzalez (born February 27, 1976) is an American former football tight end who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons. Regarded as one of the greatest tight ends of all time, he is the NFL's all-time leader ...

, the Association of Rio grew to fourteen teams and a championship, playing more than 50 games per year. Its governing body is the Associação Brasileira de Futebol Americano (AFAB).

References

External links

Facebook Official Page (in Portuguese)
American football in Brazil Sports governing bodies in Brazil American football governing bodies {{Americanfootball-stub

History

See also

References

External links