The Americas | Everyone’s a winner

Why is football in Latin America so complex?

Money-grubbing and regulatory capture explain its Byzantine leagues

Fans of Nacional, during the Torneo Intermedio 2024 final match.
What’s the score?Photograph: Getty Images
|Montevideo

LATIN AMERICA is a football powerhouse. Its teams include Argentina (the current men’s world champions) and Brazil (the most successful national team in history). Yet if the region plays football with beauty and elegance, its league systems are achingly complex. Latin American competitions, now in full swing, can be more confusing than the offside rule.

This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “Everyone’s a winner”

From the October 5th 2024 edition

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