Abstract
This paper proposes to discuss, through an individual case study of four athletes, the mechanisms used by the Uruguayan sports press in the discursive construction of national soccer heroes and villains in the 2010-2014 period.
The article begins with a theoretically founded introduction to the processes of media construction of sports heroes and their importance in the socialization process individuals go through in any given society.
Afterwards, a brief case study of the selected athletes is developed in light of this theoretical framework, focusing on the mechanisms used for discursively constructing heroes and their transformations into villains.
Finally, the selected cases are summarized, underlying the media atribution of certain values and features considered socially desirable by Uruguayan society.