President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed into law on Monday (28) a bill that makes women's football a priority of Brazil's national sports policy and caps how many amateur players each squad can register. The signing comes about nine months before Brazil hosts the 2027 Women's World Cup.
The law stems from Bill 4.578/2025, which the executive branch sent to Congress in September of last year. The lower house passed it in August and the Senate in early September. According to G1, the law creates a "social, sporting and financial legacy plan" for the World Cup, designed to keep tournament investments and programs benefiting the women's game after the final.
How the law changes the competitions
The most concrete change is the cap on amateur players, meaning athletes without professional contracts. In the top national division, clubs may register at most four non-professional players; in the other national divisions and the top state division, up to six; in all other professional competitions, up to eight. In practice, the rest of each squad list must be filled by players holding professional contracts. There is no single compliance deadline: the government will set the pace at which the limits fall until the competitions are fully professional.
In youth football, clubs and sports organizations must give girls the same setup provided to boys, including facilities, equipment and coaching staff. According to state news agency Agência Brasil, the text passed by Congress also provides incentives for pay equality between men and women, requires the match calendar to be published far enough in advance for clubs to plan, makes women's teams mandatory in the youth setups of player-development organizations, guarantees respect for maternity, and creates protocols against discrimination and violence toward women in sport.
The bill's rapporteur in the lower house, Jack Rocha of the Workers' Party, framed the project as a long-term strategy. In her report she wrote:
"This bill is an important instrument for adopting a long-term strategy to overcome the inequalities historically imposed on women's football."
The 2027 World Cup ahead
The Women's World Cup runs from June 24 to July 25, 2027 in eight host cities: Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Fortaleza, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and São Paulo. The signing lands in the closing stretch of the domestic season: Corinthians and São Paulo meet again on Saturday to decide the 2026 Brazilian women's league title.