Kids in the favelas and their passion for soccer

The kids from the poor neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro, known as favelas, are becoming the main attraction for photographers who want to capture their passion for the sport of soccer during the World Cup.

Photographer Christoph Simon says, "In the favelas in Brazil, kids play soccer anywhere and any time of the day. They play with worn-out balls, in dusty fields, or even against the walls of a house...". Christoph claims that this is the real spirit of the first favela he ever captured with a camera, known as Cidade de Deus (City of God) in Rio de Janeiro. The favela, which is one most famous neighborhoods in the city, is composed of 700 households in an environment full of violence, and where public services like schools or hospitals are not even present. For more than one year, Christoph has been using this scenario as a personal project to frame a neighborhood full of youth and soccer.

Back in 2011, Simon was 50 years old and decided to take part in a project in Rio de Janeiro that would combine photography, kids enthusiasm, and soccer. Christoph says, "Before the start of the 2014 World Cup, I was looking for a way to illustrate the origins of the passion that brazilians have for the world of soccer. So I decided to go to the core of this spirit and ask the kids from the favelas to show me their passion for the sport from their own perspective".

It didn't take much time for the project to start. Simon started to take photographs with Tony Barros, a local photographer and director of the school Lente dos Sonhos (The lense of dreams), and started to frame that passion is several of them. In the weekends, Barros and Simon would go to all around the favela of Cidade de Deus to recruit voluntaries for their photos. Surprisingly, in just a couple of months, most of the photographs reflected just what they were looking for: passion for soccer.



From the beginning of the project, both Simon and Barros had the intention in mind of capturing images where soccer was the main theme. "The most difficult part of the project" Christoph says, "was to make sure that kids wouldn't pose for the photos. It took a while; however, I think I achieved my goal. It was truly fascinating and enjoyable to work with this people. They were always listening and paying attention to my instructions."

Cidade de Deus is a favela where the is a constant battle between police authorities and drug dealers. It makes life difficult for the people living in these areas. For Simon, it was a big challenge. Sometimes he would talk to drug dealers face to face to explain them why they were taking so many pictures of the people. Others, his friend Barros would use his diplomatic strategies with the police so they could be left alone and continue their work. In general, it was not an easy job.




After more than five months of hard work, Simon faced a big problem: he had more than 10.000 pictures that he had to edit. However, what he liked the most about this process was finding images full of joy and happiness. That passion that he was looking for at the beginning of the project was finally captured in thousands of photographs. After hard work and hours of sitting in front of the computer, Simon completed editing a series of images full of "happiness" and "captivating" moments.