It aims to analyze the ways in which sport manifests itself in 19 Latin American countries, as well as Brazil's place in this process, capturing the possible options that approximations and distances can offer. As a qualitative study, it uses the comparative method, document critical and the evidential paradigm as theoretical and methodological precepts. The sources are 19 official laws and three countries' national sport policy documents. Sport is manifested through three axes that are also shown as possible fields of action: 1 – Leisure and Health; 2 - Performance; 3 – Educational. It is necessary to understand the sport in its breadth, but also capturing its singularities and different appropriations in latin contexts, this is fundamental for thinking about its policies and its development, especially in the largest country, Brazil.