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11 ESLJ [1] (2013)

handle is hein.journals/entersport11 and id is 1 raw text is: This article describes the recent developments in Brazilian law that led to the enactment of the
Sports Fans Statute in 2003. Over the last decade, Brazilian fans have been treated as consumers
and are consequently entitled to a bundle of legal rights: fairness of the competition;
transparency; access to an ombudsman; transportation; personal safety; insurance; sanitation;
fair tickets and food pricing; and ticket selling standards. In addition to these consumer rights, due
to the escalation of violence among hooligans, Brazilian authorities established Sports Fans Courts,
prohibited alcohol consumption inside football stadiums, and permitted certain sports fans
associations to be banned as well as individual spectators. Recently, the organisation of the World
Cup provoked a clash between the transnational culture of FIFA executives and the local legal
culture of Brazilian lawyers, as the norms adopted to organise the national Brazilian competition
will be suspended during the international tournament.
Sports Fans, Consumer Rights, Transparency, Ombudsman, Hooliganism, Safety, Alcohol
Prohibition, Banning Orders
The main goal of this article is to introduce recent Brazilian legislative and institutional 1
developments to a British audience and to stimulate intellectual exchange between the two
legal communities regarding sports law. On one hand, it is interesting to describe
contemporary Brazilian legal practices and to communicate them to academics, lawyers, and
public officials from Great Britain. On the other hand, it is also important to acknowledge that
all legal developments should be analysed within a given national context and in accordance
with the particular social circumstances of that legal culture. By describing the enactment of
sports fans' consumer rights in Brazil, this comparative mirror may provoke a British audience
to reflect. An awareness of the pitfalls of legal transplants (Blum 2008) and the differences
between our legal cultures opposes any suggestion for the exact same rules to be adopted
elsewhere. However, there is much common ground between the two countries regarding
ticket touting, spectator safety, crowd control, banning orders, and alcohol restriction. In
addition, the concept of sports fans as consumers is an idea that resonates to a British
audience in contemporary times. Nowadays, we consume not only fashionable goods and
electronic devices, but also sports events on TV and at stadiums as part of everyday life in
our global village.
The text will be divided into five sections. First, the Brazilian Sports Fans Statute (Estatuto do 2
Torcedor) will be introduced and the concept of the sport fan as a consumer and the right to a
fair competition will also be explained. Second, the specific rights and duties of sports fans
according to the Brazilian law will be detailed, focusing especially on transparency, purchase
standards, and the rights to transportation and personal security. Third, the specific measures
taken against Brazilian hooligans will be explained, especially the collective banning of sports

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