Why do Brazil footballers use nicknames on shirts and what are their real names?

A Selecao are five-time winners of football's greatest prize, with the likes of Pele, Cafu and Ronaldo all getting their hands on the trophy.

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But in addition to all sharing the same nationality, Brazil's illustrious ray of stars down the years also continue to follow in the tradition of going by just a singular name.

As a former a colony of Portugal, Brazil largely uses Portuguese naming conventions instead of Western culture that utilises first names followed by surnames.

In Portuguese tradition a person has four names, which leads to Brazilian players adopting nicknames to avoid a mouthful or for them to be more recognisable by their fans.

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Sometimes that nickname is just one of their four names that is NOT their surname - in the case of the likes of Alisson, Ederson and Neymar.

Other times, it's a nickname that has just stuck such as Pele (real name Edson Arantes do Nascimento), Ronaldinho (Ronaldo de Assis Moreira), or Kaka (Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite).

Givanildo Vieira de Sousa famously admitted that his love of the Marvel superhero 'Hulk' as a child led to him adopting the name.

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What are Brazil's World Cup players' real names?

Alisson - Alisson Ramses Becker

Ederson - Ederson Santana de Moraes

Weverton - Weverton Pereira da Silva

Thiago Silva - Thiago Emiliano da Silva

Marquinhos - Marcos Aoas Correa

Danilo - Danilo Luiz da Silva

Alex Telles - Alex Nicolao Telles

Alex Sandro - Alex Sandro Lobo Silva

Eder Militao - Eder Gabriel Militao

Bremer - Gleison Bremer Silva Nascimento

Ibanez - Roger Ibanez da Silva

Bruno Guimaraes - Bruno Guimaraes Rodriguez Moura

Casemiro - Carlos Henrique Casimiro

Lucas Paqueta - Lucas Tolentino Coelho de Lima

Fabinho - Fabio Henrique Tavares

Fred - Frederico Rodrigues de Paula Santos

Everton Ribeiro - Everton Augusto de Barros Ribeiro

Neymar - Neymar da Silva Santos Junior

Roberto Firmino - Roberto Firmino Barbosa de Oliveira

Vinicius Junior - Vinícius Jose Paixao de Oliveira Junior

Antony - Antony Matheus dos Santos

Richarlison - Richarlison de Andrade

Raphinha - Raphael Dias Belloli

Rodrygo - Rodrygo Silva de Goes

Matheus Cunha - Matheus Santos Carneiro Cunha

Pedro - Pedro Guilherme Abreu dos Santos