Brazil kit becomes key issue in Bolsonaro's campaign amid Neymar backlash

Brazilians head to the polls tomorrow for the opening round of a polarising presidential election in which left wing candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, known as Lula, is expected to secure a victory over the incumbent Jair Bolsonaro.

But football, the South American country's greatest passion, finds itself locked in the middle of a divisive campaign with the national team's iconic yellow jersey at the heart of it and flashiest player Neymar backing far-right Bolsonaro in a TikTok video on Thursday.

The Paris Saint-Germain forward's post, featuring a dance to a Bolsonaro jingle, arrived 24 hours after the current president visited a charitable institute near Sao Paulo belonging to the footballer.

Neymar was widely criticised online for his support but doubled down with a response on Friday afternoon. "They talk about democracy and a lot of things, but when someone has a different opinion he is attacked by the very people who talk about democracy," he said. "Go figure."

But the divisive debate around the meaning of the famous yellow shirt is even more significant with Bolsonaro's supporters accused of co-opting it as a symbol of far-right nationalism.

"Football is something iconic for Brazil, it is what brings everybody together most of the time," a 25-year-old named Isabela Guedes told Al Jazeera about the fight for the shirt's identity.

"When they [right-wing supporters] take something so meaningful for the country and use it with political intentions, it is like they are stealing it from us. I don't feel comfortable hanging a flag on my window during the World Cup because I will be mistaken for people with completely different political views. They have taken the flag and yellow jersey and turned them into political symbols."

When the Selecao's new shirt for November's World Cup was released, sales were below what would normally be expected but the blue away strip sold out.

Some football fans have said they feared going to buy the new strip because they do not want to appear associated with Bolsonaro but his backers claim they are also concerned about wearing the kit - because of a supposed fear of violence from Lula's supporters.

Bolsonaro has long used football as a campaigning tool. A Palmeiras fan, he has regularly appeared at stadiums and gifted a Brazil kit to US president Donald Trump during a visit to Washington DC in 2019.

Critics fear Bolsonaro could take a similar approach to Trump if he loses the election by making baseless fraud claims. His supporters last year trying to occupy the Supreme Court in a move inspired by the 2021 assault on the US Capitol. He was also one of the last world leaders to recognise Joe Biden as the new American president.

Several other footballers have publicly backed Bolsonaro in the past, including Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker.

"We have lived years where the left-wing has economically sunk the country," Alisson said in 2020. "They did good things, they mainly helped the poorest, but what was the goal? What they did badly was much more serious than the positive things.

"You don't have to put it on a scale. He did something wrong, he stole, but he helped so-and-so, the poor. It's not like this.

"I see people who didn't vote for Bolsonaro hoping he does something wrong to be right. It's not a question of being right. If he's a good president, it will be good for everyone, even those who didn't vote for him."

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