Before every match at this year’s Fifa World Cup, viewers will watch as cameras linger on a familiar ritual: players gathered in circles, knocking the ball around in rapid-fire rondos as they prepare for the spectacle ahead.
But in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, that circle is not just a warm-up. It is often the game itself. For decades, locals have gathered on beaches and neighbourhood courts to play a version of the exercise known as altinha, where keeping the ball in the air with anything other than arms and hands is both a collective challenge and a chance for each player to show off their skills.
Altinha is said to have spread on the beaches of Rio in the 1960s when beach soccer was booming, and players would do rondo drills before matches.
By the 1980s, the drill had become its own game.
