Dream football: the impact of football in the change of social behaviors

The city of Rio de Janeiro, known for its exuberant landscapes, extraordinary beaches and the Brazilian cultural heritage that is samba, is also recognised for its social inequalities between classes. The city conjugates areas with high economic levels with areas where social exclusion, poverty and marginality are highly visible. These socioeconomic problems have affected Brazilian society for ages. Knowing the cultural and emotional connection that the Brazilian population has with sports and football in particular, this sport has an important role in social behaviour change. In this sense, social projects like Dream Football seek, through sport activities, to implement behaviours that produce social well-fare to children from all over the world, giving them values that enable their social integration as well as a healthy goal. With special focus in Brazil, where Dream Footballs social mission is more visible, this case study intends to analyse the definition and strategic implementation on a social based project. This analysis is done by theoretical Social Marketing references, resulting in analytical models important for the perception of the relationship between the main agents of the project, as well as its range of positive influence.