Brazil National Football Team - Nicknames

Nicknames

The Brazilian national team has many nicknames and are known in different parts of the world by various nicknames. The most common one used to refer to them, especially in Brazil, is seleção, which literally means the selection. Brazilians call any national team from any country or sport a seleção and because of this it has become common for the national team to be referred to as the Seleção Brasileira or, more specifically in the case of the national football team, the Seleção Brasileira de Futebol. Although the Brazilian media have popularized seleção, other nicknames for the squad in Brazil include Canarinho, meaning "Little Canary", a phrase that was popularized by the late cartoonist Fernando Pieruccetti during the 1950 World Cup. Other names like Amarelinha, "Little Yellow One", Verde-amarelo, or "Green-Yellow", Pentacampeão, "Five-time Champions", Esquadrão de Ouro (the Golden Squad), some Latin American commentators often refer to the Brazil National team El Scratch (The Scratch), among others.