The Beautiful Game ( pt, o jogo bonito) is a nickname for

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

. It was popularised by the Brazilian footballer

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; born 23 October 1940), known as Pelé (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and labelled "the greatest" by FIFA ...

, although the exact origin of the phrase is disputed. Stuart Hall, an English football commentator, used it as far back as 1958. Hall admired Peter Doherty when he went to see

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

play at

Maine Road Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England, that was home to Manchester City F.C. from 1923 to 2003. It hosted FA Cup semi-finals, the Charity Shield, a League Cup final and England matches. Maine Road's highest a ...

and used the term "The Beautiful Game" to describe Doherty's style of play. During his career, the Brazilian footballer

Ronaldinho Ronaldo de Assis Moreira (born 21 March 1980), commonly known as Ronaldinho Gaúcho () or simply Ronaldinho, is a Brazilian retired professional footballer who played mostly as an attacking midfielder, but was also deployed as a winger. Wide ...

was an exponent of the "Joga Bonito" ("Play Beautifully") style of play. Although made famous around the world, the phrase ''jogo bonito'' is not used in Brazil, whereas the term ''futebol-arte'' means the same.

Etymology

The exact origins of the term are disputed. The origin has been attributed to Brazilian footballer Waldyr "Didi" Pereira, and the presenter Stuart Hall claimed to have originated it in 1958. The English author and football fanatic

H. E. Bates Herbert Ernest Bates (16 May 1905 – 29 January 1974), better known as H. E. Bates, was an English writer. His best-known works include ''Love for Lydia'', '' The Darling Buds of May'', and ''My Uncle Silas''. Early life H.E. Bates was ...

used the term earlier, including in a 1952 newspaper piece extolling the virtues of the game entitled "Brains in the Feet". Earlier writers used the term in 1848 to describe the game of '' baaga'adowe'', a forerunner of

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

as played by

Ojibwe The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

Vauxhall Gardens Vauxhall Gardens is a public park in Kennington in the London Borough of Lambeth, England, on the south bank of the River Thames. Originally known as New Spring Gardens, it is believed to have opened before the Restoration of 1660, bein ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, and to

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...

in 1890.

Usage

Brazilian footballer

is credited with making the phrase synonymous with football. In 1977, he named his autobiography ''My Life and the Beautiful Game''. The book's dedication reads "I dedicate this book to all the people who have made this great game the Beautiful Game." The phrase has entered the language as a description for football. The nickname serves as the name of the 1996 album '' The Beautiful Game''. Featuring football anthems such as “ Three Lions”, the music writer John Harris states that the album captures how the build-up to UEFA Euro 1996 "caught the imagination of the UK's musicians.” It is referenced in the title of

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948), is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 21 musical ...

’s 2000 musical '' The Beautiful Game''. It is used as a title for the 13-part 2002 series charting the history of the game: ''History of Football: The Beautiful Game'', narrated by the actor

Terence Stamp Terence Henry Stamp (born 22 July 1938) is an English actor. Stamp is known for his sophisticated villain roles. He was named by ''Empire Magazine'' as one of the 100 Sexiest Film Stars of All Time in 1995. He has received various accolades inc ...

. The song “ Wavin' Flag” – rapper

K'naan Keinan Abdi Warsame (born 1 February 1978) ( so, Keynaan Cabdi Warsame, ar, كَينَان عَبدِ وَرسَمَ ''Kaynān ʿAbdi Warsama''), better known by his stage name K'naan (), is a Somali-Canadian musician. He rose to prominenc ...

‘s

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance bar, temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pembe ...

promotional anthem for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa – contained the lyric “let’s rejoice in the Beautiful Game.” In January 2014,

New Model Army The New Model Army was a standing army formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians during the First English Civil War, then disbanded after the Stuart Restoration in 1660. It differed from other armies employed in the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Th ...

released a song called ''The Beautiful Game'' in support of the project "Spirit of Football". A football

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...

was released with the title "The Beautiful Game".

Terms used

Sportswear company Nike has referenced the beautiful game in its football commercials. In 1996, a Nike commercial titled "Good vs Evil" was a gladiatorial game set in a Roman amphitheatre where ten football players from around the world, including

Eric Cantona Eric Daniel Pierre Cantona (; ; born 24 May 1966) is a French actor, director, producer, and former professional footballer. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation, Cantona is credited as having made Manchester United a d ...

Ronaldo Ronaldo is a Portuguese given name equivalent to the English Ronald. It became a common name in all Portuguese-speaking countries, being also prevalent in Italy and Spanish-speaking countries. People Notable people known as Ronaldo include: As ...

Paolo Maldini Paolo Cesare Maldini (; born 26 June 1968) is an Italian former professional footballer who played primarily as a left back and centre back for AC Milan and the Italy national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest defenders of a ...

Luís Figo Luís Filipe Madeira Caeiro Figo (; born 4 November 1972) is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a winger for Sporting CP, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Inter Milan. He won 127 caps for the Portugal national team, a one ...

, Patrick Kluivert, Ian Wright and

Jorge Campos Jorge Campos Navarrete (born 15 October 1966) is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. A notable player of Mexico in the 1990s and early 2000s, Campos was an eccentric player, known for his constant play outside ...

, defend "the beautiful game" against a team of demonic warriors, which culminates in Cantona receiving the ball from Ronaldo, pulling up his shirt collar, and delivering the final line, "Au Revoir", before striking the ball and destroying evil. Nike also uses the Portuguese phrase ''Joga bonito''—meaning "play beautifully", and not "beautiful game", which would be ''Jogo bonito''—as one of its slogans for football products. Nike began using the slogan ''Joga bonito'' in a campaign preceding the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host th ...

in an attempt to curb players' behaviours on the pitch. In collaboration with, and promoted by, former international footballer

. Nike released a series of adverts to promote a game that is skillful and dignified, not riddled with theatrics and poor sportsmanship. Sportswear company

Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized as adidas since 1949) is a German multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufacture ...

named an official match ball of

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe o ...

Adidas Beau Jeu The Adidas Beau Jeu () is one of the official match balls of the UEFA Euro 2016 tournament. It was used for the group stage of the tournament, after which it was replaced by the "Adidas Fracas" (a design variant of the ''Beau Jeu'') for the knock ...

,'' which translates to "The Beautiful Game" in English."Euro 2016: Adidas unveil 'Beau Jeu', the tournament's official match ball"
. ''The Independent''. Retrieved 30 May 2017

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beautiful Game Association football terminology Football in Brazil Pelé

Etymology

Usage

Terms used

Further reading

See also

References