New York - Just weeks before the 2026 World Cup, Brazilian football has arrived in the United States to present itself as an asset class.
During the Itaú BBA Sports Summit, club executives, investors, lawyers, and bankers discussed Brazil as both the largest talent factory in global sports and an undervalued asset in the global entertainment industry.
The prevailing view is that Brazilian football is currently experiencing a rare moment of convergence between capital, regulatory structure, and demand. And the assessment is that the international market began to perceive this even before Brazil itself managed to organize the country's most popular sport.
"The capital available for sports in the world today is abundant," Guilherme Ávila, head of sports, media and entertainment at Itaú BBA, told NeoFeed .
"There are many people looking to allocate capital to this asset class. And few leagues have as much potential to unlock value as the football league in Brazil," he added.
The perception that football has become a relevant asset class has gained strength in recent years with the entry of funds, multinational groups and institutional investors into leagues, franchises and clubs around the world.
But the Brazilian case is noteworthy because of the large gap between the economic potential and the current monetization of the product.
“We have the most important asset of all, which is demand. Now we need to transform that into a product,” said Luiz Ribeiro, managing director and co-head of General Atlantic.
"Sport has become a very hot topic because it's an industry protected against AI," he added.
Today, broadcasting rights for Brazilian soccer generate around US$600 million per year. The Premier League alone exceeds US$2 billion annually in broadcasting revenue . While the English league generates approximately US$12 per capita in media revenue, Brazil monetizes around US$2 per capita.
“Brazil is a larger country than Spain, but it still monetizes broadcasting rights at a much lower level. When you look at international benchmarks, there is potential for this market to be three or four times larger,” says Ávila.
The diagnosis is that the historical problem of Brazilian football has never been demand. The country has over 100 million football fans, possesses one of the most recognized sports brands on the planet, and remains the world's largest exporter of players.
“For a long time, the market looked at the Brazilian player, not at the Brazilian football product,” said Marcos Motta, vice-president of Flamengo and a lawyer specializing in the sports sector. “The challenge now is to transform the championship into an exportable product.”
For decades, Brazilian football was organized as an industry for exporting athletes. The money came from selling players, while local championships remained fragmented, poorly distributed commercially, and of little relevance outside the country.
Now, the argument put forward by clubs, investors, and financial executives is to retain more value within the local industry and build a league capable of competing globally for audience, media, and capital.
The creation of publicly traded football companies (SAFs) helped accelerate this movement. The new legislation opened up space for private investors to enter clubs and began attracting national and international groups. Red Bull, City Football Group, and funds linked to private equity began operating in the Brazilian market.
But the SAF (Sociedade Anônima do Futebol - Football Limited Company) is only one part of the transformation. Pedro Daniel, CEO of Atlético-MG, says that the new cycle of Brazilian football depends on three pillars: professionalization, financial fair play, and centralization of commercial rights.
The discussion about creating a unified league emerged as the main central point of the debate. Brazilian football will only be able to fully capture its economic potential when it manages to centralize commercial negotiations, distribute revenues more efficiently, and present an organized product to the international market.
The example cited was – once again – the Premier League. Today, between 40% and 50% of the English league's revenue comes from abroad. In Brazil, that share is around 1%.
“We need to stop exporting just players and start exporting the entire championship,” stated Gabriel Lima, CEO of Futebol Forte União (FFU).
However, the optimism was accompanied by growing concern about the risk of Brazilian football missing its opportunity. Since 2021, the market has been discussing the creation of a structured league in the country.
The process moved forward, attracting investors and increasing the professionalism of the discussions. But it also produced friction.
“There are investors who are already tired of hearing the same story,” said Ávila. “And there are others who understand that the market today is much better than it was four years ago and don’t want to miss the opportunity to enter before this rerating .”
The bet is that, if it manages to resolve its governance issues and structure a strong league, the country could transform a historically undermonetized product into one of the most valuable sports platforms in the emerging world.
