14 Beautiful Photos Of The Makeshift Fields Where Brazil's Poor Play Soccer

The 2014 FIFA World Cup is currently in full swing and drawing enormous audiences. But while the superstars are playing in billions of dollars worth of new stadiums and earning millions, the regular people of Brazil, who's tax money funded the construction of those stadiums, are playing the beautiful game elsewhere.

Brazil's less fortunate citizens, who often live in massive favelas on the outskirts of Brazil's major cities, play on any land they can find, whether it be sand, dirt, or grass. As the favelas expand, these makeshift fields are disappearing fast.

Using a helicopter, photographer Renato Stockler photographed soccer fields on the southern and western fringes of Sao Paulo, Brazil, creating a body of work he titled "Terrão de Cima." His photos highlight the disparities between the glitz of a global spectacle like the World Cup and the social realities of living on the periphery.

Stockler told Business Insider, "These fields show the urgent need for public and communal places to practice sports and to improve community living, a portrait of those who fights for leisure and a better life... Even in face of social and political difficulties, [they] show us real soccer, far away from a society mediated by powerful media groups."