A League of Their Own

Untitled (2022) | Diana Goncalves / Shutterstock

One of the teams that created the LiGay [the amateur Brazilian “Gay League”] was the BeesCats Soccer Boys from Rio de Janeiro. Organizers formed the team in 2017 with a triple aim: to demonstrate that gay men are indeed futebolistas, to help players overcome personal trauma, and to assert their place within Brazil’s national identity. A core motivation for the team’s founders was to challenge the prevailing notion of soccer as an exclusively heterosexual domain. As BeesCats cofounder Flávio Amaral shared with me in 2018, “The focus was always on representation, with emphasis on the renewal of passion for futebol and the overcoming of traumas acquired during infancy and adolescence, when the athletes felt excluded from the sport due to prejudiced attitudes.” This desire to represent their community and heal from past discrimination highlights the profound cultural significance of soccer in Brazil; being excluded from the sport is akin to being denied a fundamental aspect of national belonging. Thus, reengaging with futebol became a way for these gay athletes to reclaim a national birthright and publicly advocate for their rights and recognition.

The idea to create the BeesCats came from a 2017 TV segment featuring the Unicorns FC, a gay men’s soccer team from São Paulo founded in 2015. Inspired by this, screenwriter André Machado, a São Paulo native living in Rio, decided to establish a similar team in Rio. The team, cleverly named BeesCats Soccer Boys (a play on biscates só quer(em) boys, meaning “the little sluts only want boys”), meets weekly in the city’s South Zone. Their name, a provocative blend of queer culture and futebol, clearly asserts their identity as gay futebolistas. The English word “soccer” not only offers a convenient homonym but also hints at the team’s cosmopolitan flair. Within weeks of its June 2017 formation, encontros de BeesCats (BeesCats gatherings) transformed into a vibrant gay social hub, drawing around 100 people for games, socializing, and music, even featuring a DJ at practices.

The team’s emphasis on enjoyment and celebration helped them gain visibility and reclaim futebol on their own terms. As their weekly games grew in popularity, the team attracted players from across Rio, many of whom had previously played in cis men’s leagues, some professionally. To foster a proud community for gay men while also showcasing their serious football skills, the organizers developed a tiered system that balanced fun with competition. Amaral noted that the relaxed atmosphere of the more open games helped participants “accept their sexual orientation.” This “liberation” combined with “technical quality” led to the formation of the Seleção BeesCats, a competitive team that travels to play in championship events nationwide. By prioritizing enjoyment and relaxation, the team helped gay athletes become more comfortable as gay futebolistas. However, the leadership also divided players by skill, with some playing for leisure, and others, like those selected for the travel team, playing to win. Given that most Brazilian cis gay men had access to futebol growing up, some traditional hierarchical aspects of the sport remained unchallenged within the team’s structure (as in this example of separating players according to skill). By engaging in competitive futebol, including hosting tournaments and playing against other teams, the BeesCats aimed to expand its network and secure media coverage.

Shortly after the BeesCats formed, the team competed in São Paulo in a tournament that directly led to the formation of the LiGay de Futebol. Along with two other teams, the BeesCats established this national league for LGBTQ+ players. The LiGay experienced rapid growth, expanding from 3 to 46 teams in its first year (2017–2018) alone. Currently, over 55 teams compete in the LiGay, with 51 of them being men’s teams, indicating a significant overrepresentation of gay men in LGBTQ+-identified sports. The creation and expansion of this league were pivotal steps in advancing the rights and representation of gay footballers.

While the initial LiGay competition was structured similarly to mainstream tournaments—with knockout rounds and a focus on winning—it also incorporated other objectives. In a 2018 presentation, Flávio Amaral and sports analyst Victor Pimenta Bueno recounted a tournament that united 120 players, highlighting the pervasive joy they believe characterizes LGBTQ+ competitions. They described each match beginning with “smiles, athletes from both sides hugging each other, wishing one another a good game. … Loyalty and honesty set the tone of the games, with players admitting when they had erred, even if the ref wrongly ruled in their favor” (2018, 9). The authors argue that this approach is transforming the image of futebol from an aggressive sport riddled with malandragem, or trickery. This commitment to sportsmanship became even more evident when the BeesCats competed abroad.

Building on LiGay’s remarkable growth, the BeesCats further elevated its profile by competing in the 2018 Gay Games in Paris, becoming the first Brazilian football team to do so and finishing in second place in its division (men’s 7×7 football). The Gay Games, the most renowned LGBTQ+ amateur sporting competition, is a multiday athletic and cultural festival. Established in San Francisco in 1982, its goals include fostering pride and creating an inclusive environment for lesbians and gays in sports and society (Symons 2010). Like the Olympics, the Gay Games is held every four years, and it has taken place in various locations across the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, and most recently, in 2023, in Hong Kong and Mexico. Unlike the Olympics, it is open to everyone, regardless of sexuality, ability, race, nationality, or gender. The tenth iteration of the Gay Games took place in Paris from August 1 to August 12, 2018. The first Brazilian team to compete was predominantly comprised of players from the BeesCats’ elite competition team in Rio, but also included players from other teams and regions, similar to how Olympic national teams are formed. Players leveraged the attention generated by this international platform to raise awareness about the existence of gay futebolistas both within and outside Brazil.

The significance of the Gay Games in the BeesCats’ pursuit of recognition can be understood through the lens of both Brazilian international soccer history and the history of the Gay Games. Brazilian national identity is deeply intertwined with futebol, which has served as a means to project an image of “Brazilianness” globally since the first men’s team competed internationally in 1914. Historically, the inclusion or exclusion of players based on perceived desirable traits allowed political and institutional elites to shape Brazil’s image (Elsey and Nadel 2019; Nadel 2014). Early twentieth-century football organizers aimed to present a Brazil that assimilated European ideals, featuring cis “male, white, wealthy, cultured and amateur” athletes (Bocketti 2016, 118). However, as Brazilian men’s teams began winning against European teams in the 1920s, the focus shifted to fielding the best athletes, leading to the inclusion of working-class, Black, and geographically diverse players. Nationalists and populists further justified this inclusion by arguing that it demonstrated Brazil’s rejection of Eurocentrism in favor of nationalism, inclusivity, and democracy. This representation on the world stage, particularly in victories against European competitors, inspired Brazilians to reevaluate their national team and, by extension, their nation. As historian Greg Bocketti states, “they believed they saw a European football plagued by decadence and even corruption, and they became more comfortable in claiming the sport as their own and using it to proclaim Brazil’s emergence as a better country, ready to take its rightful place on the world stage” (2016, 119). This period, from 1933 (when professionalization began) to 1970 (after the men’s national team won its third World Cup), marked the “golden age of Brazilian [men’s] football,” with the sport largely state-controlled and central to national and modernizing efforts.

In the 1970s, when many BeesCats and LiGay players were born, Brazilian men’s futebol entered a period of crisis, stemming from macro-level historical shifts. According to soccer scholars Cesar Gordon and Ronaldo Helal (2002), the sport moved away from being a state-sponsored tool for nationalism. It fragmented into disunited niches driven by market interests and postmodern identity politics. This crisis began after the 1970 World Cup win, when massive state-initiated soccer-related building projects and investments were followed by the men’s national team’s loss in 1974, leading to stadiums and soccer culture being marred by violence and bankruptcy amid an economic recession and inflation. To alleviate financial pressure, clubs began selling players to European teams in 1982. Live television coverage surged in 1987, prompting new negotiations over broadcast rights. Until the 1990s, however, sport remained largely regulated by the state. This changed with Zico’s Law (passed in 1993 and amended as Pelé’s Law in 1998), which reduced the state’s role and enabled clubs to transform into profitable enterprises. These newly empowered clubs became, and remain, rife with financial scandals. This corruption came to a head nationally in 2014 when Brazil hosted the FIFA World Cup. Widespread national protests over various issues coalesced around football. The blatant corruption of stadium spending seemed unacceptable given cuts in social spending, highlighted by rising bus fares and the dismal state of public education. The Bees-Cats emerged within this context of a crisis poised to reshape the landscape of futebol.

By attending the 2018 Paris Gay Games, the BeesCats transitioned from a national to an international platform. Playing before a global audience provided an opportunity for the team to enhance its profile and promote its agenda. Furthermore, competing overseas allowed the BeesCats to redefine itself in relation to other cis gay men’s teams, advance its cause in solidarity with queer players worldwide, and represent its nation, aiming to leverage this international competition to advocate for change both at home and abroad. While other Brazilian soccer teams, including Brazil’s first trans team, the Meninos Bons de Bola (MBB, or Soccer Star Boys), aspired to be the first Brazilian team to compete there, the BeesCats ultimately secured the necessary resources (Martins et al. 2023; Snyder 2023). Most players self-funded their trips, and cofounder Machado obtained sponsorship from 269 Chilli Pepper sauna, advertised as Latin America’s largest gay men’s sauna, to help cover costs.

Competing in a setting modeled after the Olympics meant players were identified as national representatives. Although the Gay Games organizers aim to emphasize that national borders do not limit the LGBTQ+ community and thus the games are less state driven than the Olympics, many teams identify and compete by country of origin, reflecting the Olympic emphasis on the nation-state. This is also evident in the opening ceremonies, where the Gay Games procession mirrors the Olympic Parade of Nations, with athletes grouped by country. In this setting, the BeesCats proudly represented Brazil, countering futebol masculino’s presumed heterosexuality.