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Based on the idea that football is a uniquely favourable field for studying social reality, the purpose of this article is to explore and critically discuss the role of the Portuguese media in perpetuating racial and Eurocentric paradigms during the 2010 Football World Cup in South Africa. The state of the art in the debate on racism and football is reviewed, highlighting the limitations affecting the majority of studies. The way various media have been problematised is then discussed, with regard to their portrayal of racism and eurocentrism. The media discourse, based on the glorification of the “Discoveries” and the constructions of Africanity, is analyzed from dichotomous perspectives (reason versus emotion and reason versus body). Football, therefore, represents not only a metaphor of society but also helps to produce, reproduce and reinforce racial and Eurocentric paradigms.