Which Olympic sport are Brazilians going nuts for in 2016?

The pair, who were irreplaceable as Brazil took Olympic gold and two silvers in Athens, Beijing and London, also acquired million-dollar sponsorship deals, fronting marketing campaigns for everything from telecoms companies to English-language schools.

Lower down the scale, regular club players slug it out for between R$45,000 (£10,000, $15,000) and R$290,000 (£65,000, $100,000) a year, a fraction of the wages paid in the European leagues of Russia and Turkey, where the average wage is just under R$450,000 (£100,000, $150,000) but the biggest stars earn in excess of R$3m(£650,000, $1m).