South America
The first recorded football match in Argentina was played already in 1867 by English railway workers. The first football team in South America, Gimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata (now in professionalism) was created in Argentina, in 1887. The Argentine professional leagues (previously, football was an amateur sport) were founded in 1931 by the Argentine Football Association, which itself was founded by a Scottish schoolteacher Alexander Watson Hutton in 1893. The first ever championship to take place in Argentina was the AAF Championship of 1891 making Argentina's the oldest football league outside mainland Britain.
In the 1870s an expatriate named John Miller who worked on the railway construction project in São Paulo together with some 3000 other immigrant families from the British Isles in the last decades of the 19th century. Mr. Miller decided to send his young boy Charles William Miller to England for his education. In 1884 Charles aged 10 was sent to Bannisters school in Southampton. Charles was a natural footballer who quickly picked up the arts of the game. The football association was being formed at the time. Eton, Rugby, Charterhouse and other colleges all had developed their own rules to the game. As an accomplished winger and striker Charles held school honours that were to gain him entry first into the Southampton Club team and then into the County team of Hampshire.
In 1892 a couple of years before his return to Brazil, Charles was invited to play a game for the Corinthians, a team formed of players invited from public schools and universities.
On his return Charles brought some football equipment and a rules book with him. He then went on to develop the new rules of the game amongst the community in São Paulo. In 1888, six years before his return, the first sports club was founded in the city, São Paulo Athletic Club. São Paulo Athletic Club won the first three years championships. Miller's skills were far and above his colleagues at this stage. He was given the honour of contributing his name to a move involving a deft flick of the ball with the heel "Chaleira".
Charles Miller kept a strong bond with English football throughout his life. Teams from Southampton and Corinthians Club came over to Brazil and played against São Paulo Athletic Club and other teams in São Paulo. One on occasion in 1910 a new local team was about to be formed after a tour of the Corinthians team to Brazil and Charles was asked to suggest a name for the team. He suggested they should call themselves after Corinthians.
In 1988 when São Paulo Athletic Club celebrated its centenary and the English Corinthians Team came across again to play them at Morumbi Stadium. The end of the tour was against the local professional Corinthians Paulista team with Sócrates and Rivelino amongst its players. This game was played at Paecambu Stadium in São Paulo and true to Corinthian principles of good clean football the score was 1 to 0 in favour of the locals when as agreed Socrates changed shirts to play alongside the English amateurs. This did not affect the score unfortunately although a largely packed stadium was cheering on for a drawn result.
The Brazilian Football Confederation was founded in 1914, and the current format for the Campeonato Brasileiro was established in 1971.
Source: Wikipedia
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