TableFootball

Spain claims for itself the creation of table football in the first decades of the 20th century, but the game seems to have emerged, at the same time, in several places around the world. It started being played on sidewalks, where the field was drawn with chalk, then moved on to ceramic or marble floors, which were slicker, until it reached dining tables, allowing people to play standing up, no longer crouched on the ground; hence the name table football.

We cannot talk about button football without mentioning Geraldo Décourt, the great pioneer of the game in Rio de Janeiro and in Brazil, who, in 1928, created "Football Celotex." It is not known for certain the reason for this term, but it is said that Celotex was the official name of the type of wood (a particleboard) that he used to make the first tables. In 1930, Décourt published a book of official rules for the game, and table football won over the country.

Image description: This is a photograph of a man playing button football. The image is black and white. The man is standing, wearing a white shirt with black suspenders. He is focused on a wooden board with several wooden pieces arranged on it. The pieces are circular and come in different colors, including black and white. The background of the image is blurred, suggesting that the focus is on the player and the game.

The sanded pieces of wood that used to stand in for players gave way, in the 1940s, to clothing buttons, which is where the name "futebol de botão" (button football) comes from. The biggest ones became defenders, while the medium-sized ones turned into forwards, and the smallest buttons were the ball. In the following decade came poker chips glued to one another, along with more exotic materials, such as coconut shell, ox horn, and the traditional plastic.

Around 1960, watch glasses started to dominate the sport. Because the material was transparent, it allowed for gluing on shields and photos of soccer players (the vidrilhas), and putting the team together became part of the fun. Participants assembled their teams according to the soccer club they rooted for (Flamengo, Fluminense, Botafogo, Vasco, etc.), gluing their players' faces onto the buttons and creating their own lineups.

Image description: The image is a photograph of a set of table football (button football) discs. They are arranged in several stacks organized in plastic compartments. From left to right, the discs vary in size and color. The smallest discs are in the first compartment, while the larger ones occupy the following compartments. The predominant colors are red, green, blue, yellow, and black. Some discs have symbols or logos printed on them.

In the 1960s and 1970s, buttons began to be mass-produced. Factories used acrylic and mother-of-pearl to make professional buttons and plastic for those aimed at children. The most sought-after were the galalith or acrylic buttons, sold in factories in Meier. Among the collections launched, the most famous was Onze de Ouro, a tribute to the Brazilian national teams that won the 1958 and 1962 World Cups and to the clubs of their players (Flamengo, Botafogo, Vasco, Fluminense, América, Palmeiras, Santos, São Paulo, Portuguesa, and Corinthians). The buttons were sold at newsstands and came in little packets, just like trading cards.

The main types of table football (button football) are Bola 12 Toques, also known as Regra Paulista, Regra Carioca, and Bola 1 Toque, or Regra Baiana. The shape of the 'ball' is what determines the type. In Bola 3 and 12 Toques, the button is actually spherical; in Disco, on the other hand, the shape is... a disc. There are even not-yet-official types in which the ball is a cube (dadinho). Nowadays, discs are made of plastic and spheres of felt.

Table football (futebol de botão) was officially recognized as a sport in Brazil in 1988 by the former National Sports Council (CND). In recent years, table football has experienced a revival, with clubs emerging in various Brazilian cities, promoting intergenerational gatherings and national championships that draw hundreds of participants. The market has also modernized, with themed kits and more durable materials, keeping pace with the preferences of new audiences. The sport remains strong, celebrating dates such as Botonista Day (February 14th, in honor of Geraldo Décourt, who was born on that day) and holding municipal, state, and national championships, reaffirming its role as a cultural tradition and accessible entertainment for all ages. At a time when computers and cell phones are so popular, the resilience of table football is a victory for nostalgia and creativity.

Image description: This is a photograph of a table football (button football) set. The spatial arrangement begins with a light green background, where several red and white markers are arranged. On the right, we see a hand holding a yellow marker.