Brazil is known as one of the most passionate nations in the world for football.
This month, seven kids from rural China are hoping to experience this intensity by participating in a friendly match against their Brazilian counterparts in Rio de Janeiro. What happened when they met each other?
#Rio #football #Brazil
This month, seven kids from rural China are hoping to experience this intensity by participating in a friendly match against their Brazilian counterparts in Rio de Janeiro. What happened when they met each other?
#Rio #football #Brazil
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00:00Brazil is a football powerhouse.
00:07But these kids from a remote part of China
00:10are flying some 17,000 kilometers to Rio de Janeiro
00:14to take to the pitch against some Brazilian kids
00:17in a football match.
00:22To find out what it's all about,
00:24I traveled to Rongjiang County in southwestern China
00:27where these young players are from.
00:29This small county is known across China
00:32for one thing, football.
00:36Rongjiang is popular for live streaming
00:38its grassroots amateur football tournaments
00:41celebrated for their authentic, fun
00:43and community-centered spirit.
00:48To further cultivate a love for the sport,
00:50a Chinese NGO has decided to sponsor
00:53six primary school students here
00:55for a friendly in Brazil this November.
00:59Xu Xiangyang is one of them.
01:05And there's only one way to find out
01:07if he has what it takes.
01:09All right, here's the plan.
01:10One of my cameramen is going head-to-head
01:12with my little brother Xu here,
01:14and I, I'm going to be the goalie.
01:29My hands definitely felt that.
02:00Wow, these kids are training pretty hard.
02:03I really hope little brother Xu
02:05will have a great time in Rio.
02:07After promising to see each other in Brazil,
02:10I flew to Rio ahead of time.
02:19I tried to meet some local youth players,
02:21particularly in the middle of the night.
02:25I tried to meet some local youth players,
02:27particularly in the favelas.
02:30These are urban slums that are home
02:32to over 16 million Brazilians.
02:35Many of the country's biggest superstars
02:37came out of neighborhoods like this.
02:40So we've arrived at one of the many favelas
02:43in the state of Rio.
02:44If you want to find young talents,
02:46perhaps this is the place to look.
02:49And of course, this is not an ideal environment
02:52for children to grow up in.
02:54Many favelas are controlled by drug gangs,
02:57leading to frequent shootouts
02:59between them and law enforcement,
03:01sometimes resulting in collateral damage.
03:05Yet, despite the favela's grim reputation,
03:08you can always find a place of pure joy.
03:12This is the community football pitch.
03:22The kids are being trained by a local non-profit
03:25founded in 2004 by a former professional player.
03:29The program focuses on teaching children
03:32aged 6 to 15 the fundamentals of football.
03:36So what is the idea behind the project?
03:39The biggest pleasure I have is to know
03:42that I can teach children
03:44the fundamentals of football.
03:46So what is the idea behind the project?
03:49The biggest pleasure I have is to know
03:52that the project was a success.
03:55It helped these families to get these children
03:59out of the wrong path they were on.
04:03Children who had no dreams,
04:06who lived in a community
04:08where there was nothing for them to do.
04:11We went to visit the families of some of the young players.
04:14Nice to meet you.
04:1611-year-old Maria has been practicing for a year.
04:21So who is your favorite player?
04:23Neymar.
04:25I love my family and I want to be a football player
04:28so I can be a famous player
04:32and help them here at home.
04:36There was a tragedy not long ago,
04:38nine months ago,
04:39when their mother died of cancer.
04:42But we try to keep the same rhythm, you know?
04:45And if it's her dream,
04:47I want her to make it come true.
04:53When you said that you wanted to become a football star
04:56to help your family,
04:58what did you mean by that?
05:01I want to be a football player
05:03because my mother died.
05:06I always told her that I would one day be a football player.
05:12When I score a goal,
05:15I always point to the sky,
05:18because the goal is for her.
05:22Maria wasn't the only child I spoke to that day
05:25who dreamed of becoming a famous football star.
05:28The sentiment is often strong
05:31and sometimes quite heavy.
05:34One day I can get there.
05:36It's my potential.
05:39One day I can get there.
05:42It all depends on me.
05:46There's a saying that football and music
05:49are the ways out for children from the favelas.
05:53While this sentence sounds aspirational,
05:56it does also allude to the challenges
05:59and limited opportunities that children here face
06:02in building a better life.
06:06This child, Lucas Gabriel, led me to his home,
06:10located further up the hills.
06:12That's a lot of stairs.
06:15Typical terrain for many favelas.
06:18We lost him!
06:19Oh my God, where is he?
06:22There you are.
06:24He is cared for by his single mother,
06:26who supports a family of three
06:28by working at the supermarket.
06:30I get up at 5 a.m. and come back at 4 p.m.
06:34He goes to school.
06:36Now I'm not so afraid,
06:38but I was afraid of getting shot at any time.
06:41Because it happened a lot here.
06:43Now, thank God, it's better.
06:45But I didn't have time to shoot him.
06:51This family receives help from the government.
06:54Brazil has a welfare program called Bolsa FamÃlia,
06:58which provides eligible families
07:00with a minimum monthly payment of 600 Brazilian Reais,
07:04or about 100 U.S. dollars.
07:06Households can receive additional support for children
07:09as long as they attend school and are vaccinated.
07:13I provide him with transportation, clothes,
07:16shoes, and shoes.
07:19Everything we need to buy,
07:22I buy with this money and with what I earn.
07:27Brazil initiated the Global Alliance
07:29Against Hunger and Poverty this November
07:32at the G20 Summit in Rio,
07:34where countries are expected to share
07:36poverty alleviation strategies.
07:39Bolsa FamÃlia is a key component
07:41of Brazil's policy model.
07:46Over on the other side of the world in China,
07:49poverty has also been a challenge for Rongjiang County.
07:53Here's something that's true across the world.
07:56It's by breaking free from the cycle of poverty
07:59that kids get to have a fulfilling childhood.
08:07Before I left Rongjiang for Brazil,
08:09I met Long Tongyi.
08:11She's not on the team that's bound for Brazil.
08:14Long comes from a low-income family
08:16that relies on government assistance.
08:20After a chat, she agreed to take us to her home,
08:23which is in an old and underprivileged area of the county,
08:26to film her family's living conditions.
08:56After a deeper conversation,
09:11I found out that Long's mother
09:13has been suffering from lupus,
09:15a severe autoimmune disease
09:17that ultimately shut down her kidneys.
09:26She's so mature for her age,
09:46almost extraordinarily so.
09:48So this county, Rongjiang County,
09:50is situated in one of the poorest regions of China.
09:54This county only lifted its poverty designation in 2020.
09:59Long receives education subsidies
10:02and free lunches at school.
10:04And her father told us that the government
10:06covers most of his wife's dialysis costs,
10:09leaving the family to pay only 17 yuan,
10:12less than 3 U.S. dollars per week,
10:14for the treatment.
10:16China's approach to poverty alleviation
10:18often includes infrastructure development.
10:21This community in Rongjiang County
10:23used to experience yearly flooding
10:25until a government project raised the nearby riverbanks.
10:29And since Rongjiang went viral
10:31for its football livestreams in 2023,
10:34special grants have been allocated
10:36to enhance its football infrastructure.
10:54All right, it's November the 18th in Rio.
10:57The friendship match is about to start.
10:59Very exciting.
11:02There they are.
11:17Look at them go.
11:19These kids from the remote Chinese county of Rongjiang
11:23have come a long way.
11:48Happy.
11:58The love of football has brought kids
12:00from two opposite ends of the planet
12:02closer together.
12:04Though their lives are different,
12:06some of their challenges are remarkably similar.
12:09And while these youngsters took to the pitch
12:12for the love of the beautiful game,
12:14world leaders gathered in Rio for the G20 summit,
12:17the very same day.
12:19A reminder that the future of our next generation
12:22should be a top priority on the global agenda.