Identidade e futebol: um estudo sobre membros de uma torcida organizada

Soccer is the most popular sport in Brazil. It is one of the main responsible for Brazilians’ identity and cultural construction. Love for soccer is transmitted through generations and conquer more adepts each day. Some of them find in supporters’ groups a group within which they can share goals, behaviors, and ideas. This article aimed at comprehending how these supporters’ organizations act in the personal, social and collective identity construction of Clube Atletico Mineiro’s young supporters in Belo Horizonte city and metropolitan area, Brazil. By doing a qualitative research, we developed a case study about a soccer supporters’ group, named Furia Alvinegra. We collected semi-structured interviews and analyzed them through the Discourse Analysis approach. Interviewees were selected by accessibility and snowball criteria. Additionally, we also analyzed photos. Results pointed to a significant influence of the supporters’ group on the identity construction of interviewees, because of: their dedication to the group; friendship relations; utility feelings from being responsible for cheering up the stadium; and desire to build a new image of the supporters’ group towards public opinion. Keywords: identity, soccer, supporters’ group, Discourse Analysis.