What is Lance!?
Lance! is a Brazilian sports news operation that began as a daily newspaper and now publishes digitally at lance.com.br. Its site carries the Brasileirão, competition tables, video, a "where to watch" guide, club pages, national and international football, and sections for the NBA, the NBB, combat sports, tennis, volleyball and Formula 1, alongside a Lance! Negócios business desk, a Fora de Campo media desk, columnists, a games area and a betting-site directory.[1]
The print daily stopped circulating in March 2020. Torcedores reported on 24 March 2020 that the paper, then in its twenty-third year, had suspended circulation during the coronavirus pandemic while continuing on its site and social channels, and published the note Lance! issued at the time, which cited public-health guidance and the closure of public places.[2]
The company changed hands the following year and the newspaper has not returned to newsstands.[3]
What does Lance! cover?
Football across the Brazilian and European calendars: the Brasileirão Série A, the Copa do Brasil, the Copa do Nordeste, women's football, the Copa Libertadores, the Champions League, the Premier League, LaLiga, the Bundesliga and Ligue 1, with standing pages for Atlético Mineiro, Botafogo, Corinthians, Cruzeiro, Flamengo, Fluminense, Palmeiras, Santos, São Paulo and Vasco.[1]
Outside football the site runs the NBA, the NBB, combat sports, tennis, volleyball and Formula 1, plus an "onde assistir" listings service and Lance! Negócios for the business of sport.[1]
The commercial model is visible in the product. The site carries a betting-site directory, paid and free betting channels, a members' scheme, a media kit and branded content — which matches what the owners described when they bought the company in 2021: revenue drawn entirely from digital advertising, programmatic media and branded-content projects, with video, social media, games and sport-adjacent products planned alongside the journalism.[1] [3] On the wider question see betting and sport.
What are Lance!'s reach and standing?
Lance! rose five places in comScore's Brazilian sports ranking over the period measured. Propmark reported on 13 August 2026 that comScore data for June 2026 credited Lance! with 25.2 million unique visitors, up 57.5 per cent from 16 million in January 2026, of which 21.6 million were on social channels, up 87.8 per cent, and 7.7 million on its own site and app, up 16.7 per cent.[4]
In comScore's sports ranking for January 2025 to June 2026 the operation placed fifth, behind Globo Esportes, ESPN, UOL Esporte and Better Collective, having stood tenth at the start of that period.[4] The figures were published by Lance! and carried by the trade press; no independent audit of the social-channel component was retrieved.
For comparison, when the current owners bought the business in 2021 they reported more than 15 million monthly site visitors, 3.1 million Facebook followers and 600,000 on Instagram, and projected annual revenue of R$20 million.[3]
Since when?
26 October 1997 is the date the paper reached Brazilian newsstands, in separate Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo editions; it ran for a little under twenty-three years in print.[2]
The break is March 2020. Circulation was suspended during the pandemic, initially as a temporary measure, and it had not resumed by October 2021, when Brazil Journal reported that the founder, Walter de Mattos Júnior, retained the right to restart it.[2] [3]
The ownership change is dated September 2021. Brazil Journal reported that three businessmen — Raul Costa Jr., a former Globo and SporTV executive, Gustavo Agostini of the Magus shopping group, and Rafael Thomé, president of Maersk Supply Services Brazil — bought Lance! for R$25 million at a judicial auction, and that they intended to reposition it as a technology company rather than a traditional news outlet.[3] The sale ran through the courts; the proceeding that produced the auction is not established by the sources retrieved here.
Why does Lance! matter in Brazil's sport?
It is a national sports daily brand that continued publishing through Brazil's print contraction: a paper that ran from 1997 to 2020, then a digital business sold through a judicial auction in 2021 and rebuilt around social video and branded content.[2] [3]
It also matters as a measured audience outside Grupo Globo's ownership. By comScore's sports category for January 2025 to June 2026 it ranked fifth in the country, and its June 2026 figure of 25.2 million unique visitors was the largest it has reported.[4]
For anyone dating a Brazilian sports-media claim, Lance! is the reminder that "the sports daily" is a historical description in this market. The title exists and publishes every day; the newspaper has not circulated since March 2020.[2] Its competition coverage centres on the Campeonato Brasileiro and the Copa Libertadores.[1]
References
- Lance! — Institucional page with the full site section index, retrieved 17 September 2026. Accessed September 2026.
- Torcedores — Jornal Lance! deixa de circular versão impressa após 23 anos, 24 March 2020. Accessed September 2026.
- Brazil Journal — Olho no Lance! O velho jornal quer renascer como empresa tech, 12 October 2021. Accessed September 2026.
- Propmark — Lance! atinge maior audiência de sua história e sobe no ranking esportivo, 13 August 2026 (comScore figures for June 2026). Accessed September 2026.