摘要:In Brazil football has been associated historically with the construction of nation idea. Nowadays, just before Brazil will host 2014 World Cup, these discourses crop up more frequently. Starting from imagined communities conception and its relation with nationalism, we discuss a recent advertising campaign of “Itaú” bank that connect economics development, football and nationalism. Our study was divided into two parts: 1st) the analysis of rhetorical strategies which connected football with social transformations in an emerging nation; 2nd) the analysis of this campaign repercussions’ in digital environment to understand audiences’ mediation into Itaú’s arguments. We point out the existence of an emerging social scission and a resistance to adopt football as the main element which defines national identity.