(10 min)
In the 1870s an expatriate named John Miller worked on the railway construction project in Sao Paulo together with some 3000 other immigrant families from the British Isles in the last decades of the 19th century.
in 1884 Miller sent his ten year old son Charles William Miller to Bannisters school in Southampton, England to be educated. Charles was a skilled athlete who quickly picked up the game of football at the time when the Football Association was still being formed, and as an accomplished winger and striker Charles held school honours that gained him entry into the Southampton Club team and later into the County team of Hampshire.
In 1888, the first sports club was founded in the city, São Paulo Athletic Club.
In 1892 while still in England, Charles was invited to play a game for Corinthians, a team formed of players invited from public schools and universities.
On his return to Brazil Charles brought some football equipment and a rules book with him. He then develop the new rules of the game amongst the community in São Paulo. São Paulo Athletic Club won the first three years championships. Miller's skills were far above his colleagues at this stage. He was given the honour of contributing his name to a move involving a deft flick of the ball with the heel "Chaleiro".
Charles Miller kept a strong bond with English football throughout his life. Teams from Southampton and Corinthians Club traveled to Brazil to played against São Paulo Athletic Club and other teams in São Paulo. After a tour of Corinthians to Brazil in 1910 a new team in Brazil took on the name of Corinthians after a suggestion from Charles
The Brazilian Football Confederation was founded in 1914, and the current format for the Campeonato Brasileiro was established in 1971
