The third edition of the Taça das Favelas São Paulo, organized by the Central Única das Favelas (Cufa), starts next Saturday (1st) at the Centro Esportivo Vila Manchester, in the east zone of São Paulo. The football games continue until November, and the final should be played at Neo Química Arena, Corinthians stadium. This year, the tournament already had a Serie B in the men’s category. The previous dispute classified the teams from 16 favelas, which will join the elite teams of the tournament, totaling more than 100 favelas in the state in the male and female categories. “We knew that São Paulo, as the periphery is very large, the number of teams would be very large and the pressure would be greater. We are now in the third edition. [A competição] grows every year and this year we are doing it in 28 cities. The Taça das Favelas de São Paulo becomes very impressive because it not only takes place in the city of São Paulo, but you will have the junction of cities like Sorocaba, Santos, São Vicente and many others”, said Celso Athayde, founder of Cufa , in an interview with TV Brasil. Tournament The football championship started in 2019 in the city of São Paulo and the final filled the Pacaembu stadium. On the occasion, the youngsters from Parque Santo Antônio were the champions of the men’s competition and in the women’s modality the title went to Complexo da Casa Verde. In 2020 and 2021, the Favelas Cup was suspended because of the covid-19 pandemic. The championship returned in 2022 with games on fields provided by the City of São Paulo and the grand finale in Barueri. In the women’s category, the current champion is the team from the favela of Paraisópolis, in the south zone of São Paulo. Among men, the 2022 title went to the team from Jardim Ibirapuera, also from the south zone. Arnaldo Moura, known as Pastel, was the coach of Jardim Ibirapuera and also champion of Favelão – equivalent to a Brazilian Championship among favelas – last year with the São Paulo team. “It is a very difficult championship, but it added visibility for our community. I have a social project there for 25 years. I had 100 kids, today I have 250. People say: ‘You put Jardim Ibirapuera on the world map’. It was a fact that, for the community, was excellent.” Opportunity In the last edition of the championship, Raíssa Lima played as a defender for the team from Favela do Campanário, in Diadema, in Greater São Paulo. She says that participating in the tournament opened doors and helped her win a college scholarship in the United States. “I think if it weren’t for the Favelas Cup in 2019 I wouldn’t have gone to Palmeiras, and the visibility was very high. With football, I achieved incredible things, even the college scholarship was thanks to football. The first time I traveled by plane, I got to know another city, my first salary… everything was football. Football has given me great things”, says the player. *With collaboration from the reporter Lincoln Chaves.
Agência Brasil
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