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Why do Brazil footballers use nicknames on their shirts, what are their World Cup players' real name

Brazil are one of the favourites to challenge for World Cup glory in Qatar with the tournament now underway.

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.

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.

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
  • Dani Alves - Daniel Alves da Silva
  • Alex Telles - Alex Nicolao Telles
  • Alex Sandro - Alex Sandro Lobo Silva
  • Eder Militao - Eder Gabriel Militao
  • Bremer - Gleison Bremer Silva Nascimento
  • 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
  • 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
  • Pedro - Pedro Guilherme Abreu dos Santos
  • Gabriel Jesus - Gabriel Fernando de Jesus
  • Gabriel Martinelli - Gabriel Teodoro Martinelli Silva

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