The Beautiful Game ( pt, o jogo bonito) is a nickname for association football. 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 tw ...

play at Maine Road and used the term "The Beautiful Game" to describe Doherty's style of play. During his career, the Brazilian footballer Ronaldinho 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 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 as played by Ojibwe at Vauxhall Gardens in London, and to tennis 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

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’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. The song “ Wavin' Flag” – rapper K'naan‘s Coca-Cola promotional anthem for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa – contained the lyric “let’s rejoice in the Beautiful Game.” In January 2014,

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released a song called ''The Beautiful Game'' in support of the project "Spirit of Football". A football podcast 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, Ronaldo, Paolo Maldini, Luís Figo, Patrick Kluivert, Ian Wright and

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, 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

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

named an official match ball of UEFA Euro 2016 '' Adidas Beau Jeu,'' 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