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In this article, we address the subject of the recent appearance and exponential and uncontrollable growth that betting had in the Brazilian sports context, alongside numerous changes in the country’s legislation system. Against the backdrop of this growth, we explore the Operation Penalty Kick organised match-fixing scandal, which unravelled in the country, as the media detailed it. Using media sources and field notes from two actors immersed in the field, we analyse the key actors and the processes of the criminal activity while exploring the ways in which it was organised, drawing parallels with trade-type network structures. Through the analysis, we argue that media are to be questioned on their role in (un)covering details of the criminal activity and key actors, once focusing the narrative away from organised crime and its financing they assist in perpetuating the culture of unpunished corruption in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brazil's decade of mega sporting events, which ended in 2016, presented a series of unexpected difficulties. The country hosted the events with the goal of changing its international status. This article aims to identify the effects of the Olympic Games of Rio de Janeiro on Brazil's international image through an analysis of articles that were published during the event in nine international media vehicles. Methodologically, this article makes use of media framing to develop five categories: Political and Economic Situation, Unequal Brazil, Culture and Tourism, Event Organization and Urban improvements, and Mediatic Pleonasm or Lochte Affair. It can be concluded that during the Olympic Games, while the news coverage centred around the host city, the scope of reports was limited and themes were replicated across newspapers, and the domestic situation influenced the media source's depiction of the host country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an exploratory analysis of the expansion of the railway network and the practice of football in São Paulo state (Brazil). An isolated region of Brazil experienced an economic boom in the middle of the nineteenth century due to the expansion of the coffee production. This transformed the region from an underdeveloped province into the most populous and richest state in Brazil, which resulted in the rapid expansion of the railway network. Designed initially to take the coffee to the coast, and transport workers and industrialised goods, the railway connected the small cities to the larger population centres, bringing new trends and fashions from abroad. Football would also spread alongside the railway network. The people responsible for its construction and administration were also associated with the creation of the first football clubs in the state, presenting this new practice to the local elites and urban dwellers. This article focuses on the foundation of the first football clubs in the most important cities of São Paulo state, analysing the impact that the expansion of the railway played in the popularisation of football, especially how in the majority of the cases the first football clubs were founded by railway personnel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]