The International Youth Exchange Program (Zajel) at the Public Relations Department and the Office of the University President Assistant for Graduate Affairs at An-Najah organized an introductory meeting about Football and its role in formulating the Brazilian culture. The meeting was administered by Mr. Eduardo Muñoz from Brazil who delivered a presentation about the game.

  Mr. Muñoz is a geographer who obtained his degree from the University of Rio de Janeiro; he is specialized in preparing sport fields in municipalities. He has been working as urban planner at the Rio de Janeiro Municipality since 2009; he also works as a referee in professionals’ sport in Brazil and is currently a volunteer in the World Council of Churches in Palestine.

In his presentation, Mr. Muñoz said that football is considered a basic constituent in the Brazilian culture and that it has played a major role in forming a considerable part of the culture in this country due to its significant impact on the life of people in Brazil.

Moreover, he spoke about the different football clubs in Brazil, how they were formed, their history, the organization of international football championships in Brazil, the work mechanisms of sport associations there, as well as the preparations that are being made by the Brazilian Government to host the World Cup in 2014.

Additionally, Mr. Muñoz familiarized the audience with the history of football in Brazil saying that it was first introduced to the country in 1898, and the first club was established in 1900. Since then, Brazil has become one of the main exporters of football players in the world which yielded the country more income than any other natural resources. The percentage of people who are interested in football in Brazil is very high and one third of the population is involved in this sport.

The Brazilian Government is currently working on encouraging this sport in addition to other types of sports.