The Brazilian underground football subculture - "Várzea" is so much more than football.

Far from the huge stadiums of the World Cup, the cool shirts, and extra green grasses, there is another side of Brazilian football that reminds us what is the essence of this sport. Between October 2016 and April 2017, photographer Simon Di Principe traveled around Brazil to gain first-hand experience on the pitches of the underground and punk communities that herald themselves as proudly disorganized. The photos capture filthy pitches, colorful shirts, and tribal atmosphere and they have been collected by Di Principe in the book Várzea that has been published earlier this month.

Furthermore, we asked Simon about how he realized the book from a technical perspective.

The book focuses on São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, and Manaus and the process is just as important as the product to me. Each photograph was taken on film and hand printed, the final selection was then curated into a book and litho-printed in Belgium. The titles were hand painted by a font specialist in Brazil, she chose to reference type that is very everyday and typically Brazilian.