Yucumã Girls by André Pitome Ávila

For the first time in history, players of indigenous origin participate in the women's state championship in Rio Grande do Sul in southern Brazil. Lacking sponsorship and financial support from government programmes, and far from the eyes of the general public, dozens of players at levels ranging from amateur to professional show up hoping for a chance to be discovered by a bigger team.'Gurias do Yucumã, a team from the city of Tenente Portela, does not have a playing field and trains only once a week. Among the athletes, two are indigenous Kaingang: Giza Proença and Claudinéia Ribeiro, who live in Reserva da Guarita in the northwest of the state. On training day, both travel 18km and when it is not possible, they send videos of themselves training at home so the coaches can give feedback. To mark the first time that indigenous athletes participate in an official championship, Giza and Claudinéia painted their legs, arms and faces with drawings characteristic of their ethnicity, to face the Internacional, a traditional and wealthy Brazilian club that has already won the world news by winning the World Championships playing against Barcelona.