Football in Brazil is not just a sport — it is a national language. It connects a delivery driver in Belém to a doctor in Porto Alegre, a teenager on the São Paulo subway to a grandfather in the interior of Minas. It is mass culture, a collective rite, and an expression of regional identity.

In terms of structure, the country is a unique powerhouse: 778 professional clubs registered with the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), spread across four national divisions and dozens of state championships. The numbers are impressive:

• Serie A: 20 clubs

• Serie B: 20 clubs

• Serie C: 20 clubs

• Serie D: 64 clubs

According to IBGE, 76% of the Brazilian population regularly follows football news and matches — which amounts to about 160 million active fans. That's more people than the entire population of Germany and France combined.

And this passion translates into market:

• The Brazilian football industry generates over R$ 10 billion per year, according to Sports Value

• Just in advertising related to football, Brazil generated about R$ 4.5 billion in 2022

• The Brazilian championship is the most watched outside Europe, with distribution in dozens of countries

But there is a blind spot: this immense fan base is not proportionately represented in traditional media coverage. Clubs outside the Rio-SP axis rarely have space in prime time. Large fan bases like those of Bahia, Fortaleza, Paysandu, or Remo, for example, have almost always been made invisible on major channels.

And where the media is silent, the internet screams.

With the rise of digital platforms, fans have stopped relying on radio and TV for information — and began producing and consuming content on their own. This vacuum opened space for the emergence of a creative, decentralized, and deeply engaged ecosystem.

That’s where the club creators come in — and the game begins to change.

The Blind Spot of Traditional Media and the Explosion of Club Creators

For decades, the narrative of Brazilian football has been dominated by a clear editorial filter: that of the mainstream press. Outlets like Globo, Band, ESPN, and SporTV centralized coverage, prioritizing the Rio-São Paulo axis and applying audience and sponsorship criteria that, in practice, silenced a large part of the clubs in the country.

In the logic of linear broadcast, there was no space for 692 clubs.
And even less for the plurality of voices that make up a fan base.

It was in this vacuum that the club creators emerged — first as passionate fans with a cell phone in hand, then as complete communicators. With YouTube videos, TikTok reacts, threads on X, and podcasts on Spotify, they did what traditional media did not:

Speak to the fans with the fans’ accent.

This movement is not marginal — it is massive.

• On YouTube, channels like Benja's Channel, Raiz Tricolor or Camisa 21 accumulate millions of monthly views.

• On TikTok, creators like Dava Gol and Bola Nas Costas mix humor with analysis and reach young audiences who don’t even watch TV.

• In 2022, Globo itself acknowledged the phenomenon with the project “The Voice of the Fans”, integrating club influencers into ge, SporTV, and Premiere.

The impact is clear: public sports opinion has become decentralized.

Today, creators compete for narrative with traditional journalists — and often win.
Their strength comes from emotional identification, from the repertoire of the stands, from informal language that turns “scoops” into “exposés”. Credibility in this new game is built on relationship, not just reporting.

This migration of attention has profound implications:

• Audience and advertising revenue now circulate outside major newsrooms

• Clubs are beginning to realize the strategic value of these creators

• The economy of sports content fragments — and multiplies

Instead of a central narrator, we now have thousands of powerful micro-voices, each with their community, style, and way of telling the club's story.

It's the fans speaking for themselves. And being heard like never before.

Influence, Emotion, and Its Limits

The logic of football content on social media is not neutral. It is driven by emotion — and monetized by engagement.
The club creator is not an impartial reporter. They are a fan, critic, enthusiast, provocateur, sometimes all at once. And that’s exactly what makes them relevant.

But it’s also what makes the environment more volatile.

When a post-game video goes viral, it not only informs — it shapes the mood of the fans. When an influencer calls for a coach's dismissal or exposes a manager, they are no longer creating content: they are sparking a movement.

In 2023, creators associated with Corinthians and Cruzeiro were directly linked to protests at training centers and public demands. In other cases, creators faced threats and virtual harassment for criticisms or denunciations — a reality that shows that the power of influence is now real and carries responsibility.

This dynamic creates a tension between freedom of opinion and responsibility for the impact of speech. In a digital environment where a player's reputation can collapse from a misinterpreted tweet, the creator also becomes a shaper of collective judgment.

It’s a new scenario, without rules or manuals:

• What is the limit between criticism and incitement?

• When does identification with the fans become a confirmation bias bubble?

• What happens when content stops informing and just inflames?

More than passionate narrators, football creators have become political actors within the ecosystem of clubs. They mobilize, influence, pressure — and often, profit from it.

Therefore, discussing influence in football today also means discussing ethics, context, and consequence.
And this becomes even more sensitive when money enters the equation.

The Betting Houses and the Monetization of Passion

If club creators have gained relevance and audience, it was the explosion of betting houses that made their monetization at scale possible.

With the regulation of “bets” in Brazil starting in 2018 (Law 13.756), the sector began to operate with more visibility. Between 2020 and 2023, more than 500 sports betting platforms began to operate in the country, generating billions in revenue. According to H2 Gambling Capital, the Brazilian online betting market is expected to surpass R$ 12 billion per year by 2026.

A good part of this investment has been directed to football and its creators. After all, those who speak with passion, frequency, and proximity to the fans are the ideal partners to convert bets into clicks — and clicks into money.

The model is simple:

• The houses offer customized promotional codes

• The creator inserts these codes into videos, lives, and stories

• Every new bet made with the code generates direct commission

• In some cases, there are fixed salaries or monthly sponsorship contracts

Creators who were once informal can now make a living from content production — thanks to betting capital.

But this dependence brings ethical and structural dilemmas:

⚠️ 1. Profiting from frustration

The logic of the bet is uncertainty. The more people lose, the more the company gains. When the creator profits from this, they are indirectly benefiting from the loss of their own audience.

⚠️ 2. Incentive to addiction

Studies from Imperial College London show that young people aged 18 to 24 are the most vulnerable group to online betting addiction. And many creators speak directly to this audience, without filters or warnings.

⚠️ 3. Bubble risk

Today, many creators depend almost exclusively on bets to keep their channels active. Any potential stricter regulation or downturn in this market could collapse dozens of creative projects.

The monetization of passion is not a problem. On the contrary — it is essential for professionalizing the sector.
But when there is only one source of revenue, editorial freedom becomes hostage.
And when the profit logic overrides the health of the audience, influence loses its value.

The question remains: who supports creators when the betting hype fades?

Football, Creators, and the Brazilian Creative Economy

Behind the shaky camera, the emotional react, and the outraged post-game commentary, there is something much bigger at play: the emergence of a new productive chain within the Brazilian creative economy.

The football content creator today is not just an enthusiastic fan. They are:

• Presenter

• Editor

• Scriptwriter

• Designer

• Community manager

• Digital entrepreneur

They generate content, audience, and cultural capital. They sell products, organize events, offer mentorship, create newsletters, and activate brands. They generate influence that drives products, ideas, collective humor — and money.

We are talking about a market with scale and potential.
According to the YouPix report, Brazil already has over 20 million active creators, and the creator economy sector is expected to generate globally US$ 480 billion by 2027 (Goldman Sachs).

But while visibility grows, the support structure remains fragile.

The majority of club creators do not have capital reserves or predictable revenue.
They live off variable transfers, short contracts, or almost total dependence on betting.
And this limits their growth — even when they have audience, relevance, and demand.

This is where a central discussion comes in:

How to ensure financial autonomy for those who already have influence but need the breathing room to scale?

It is exactly at this point that solutions like DUX make a difference.

The anticipation of receivables — whether from adsense, content contracts, sponsorships, or licensing — allows the creator to turn their future earnings into present investment.
It is liquidity without bureaucracy, designed for those who cannot wait 60 days to be paid and need to take advantage of the moment now.

The football creator is, today, a agent of the Brazilian digital culture. They inform, excite, engage, and drive change. But for them to stop depending on betting or the luck of going viral, they need financial tools that work in their favor.

And that’s not a luxury.
It’s infrastructure.

Passion Alone Does Not Sustain — But It Can Scale

Brazilian football has never been just about the ball. It has always been about voice, affection, narrative. And now, more than ever, it is also about creation, economy, and influence.

The silent revolution of club creators shows that where the media does not reach, creativity takes over.
But occupying space is not enough.
It is necessary to sustain. It is necessary to scale.

Between the euphoria of the post-game and the bill at the end of the month, many creators live in limbo: they have audience, they have product, they have relevance — but they lack cash. And without cash, there is no continuity.

Therefore, thinking about the creator economy in football is also thinking about liquidity, autonomy, and tools that enable growth.

DUX believes that the content creator is a cultural asset — and thus, needs financial solutions compatible with their timing, rhythm, and impact.

If you live from the content you create, you cannot wait. Anticipate your receivables with DUX and invest in your own game. Talk to us.