what x who

[beachboy]

What´s your favorite soccer team?
Who´s your favorite soccer team?
Flamengo is/are my favorite soccer team.
Are the four sentences above acceptable (commonly used)?

[Abstract Idea]

What´s your favorite soccer team?
Who´s your favorite soccer team?
Flamengo is/are my favorite soccer team.
Are the four sentences above acceptable (commonly used)?

Which soccer team do you root for ?
I root for Flamengo !!

PS Not a native speaker

[beachboy]

Yes, I know some similar questions like "which/what soccer team do you support? - or "which/what soccer team do you root for/cheer for", but I wondered if those 4 sentences were right. I´ve read that "who´s your favorite team?" is right, but personally I´d say "what". And I don´t know whether it´s acceptable or not... Whether to use "flamengo is" or "flamengo are" also puzzles me.

[Abstract Idea]

Yes, I know some similar questions like "which/what soccer team do you support? - or "which/what soccer team do you root for/cheer for", but I wondered if those 4 sentences were right. I´ve read that "who´s your favorite team?" is right, but personally I´d say "what". And I don´t know whether it´s acceptable or not... Whether to use "flamengo is" or "flamengo are" also puzzles me.

Well, I would never use "who" in that context.
In my opinion the sentences:
"What´s your favorite soccer team?" and "Flamengo is my favorite soccer team." are both correct and acceptable. The other two ones (with who and are) do not sound correct to me.

PS Not a native speaker.

[sarat_106]

Well, I would never use "who" in that context.
In my opinion the sentences:
"What´s your favorite soccer team?" and "Flamengo is my favorite soccer team." are both correct and acceptable. The other two ones (with who and are) do not sound correct to me.

PS Not a native speaker.

You are absolutely right. ‘who’ is used to refer to a person or personified thing such as a player, an actor, a banker, a chattered accountant or a builder etc

You can say; who is your favorite player? But not who is your favorite team.
So the first sentence can not work here.
The relative pronoun which refers to inanimate things and to animals Hence it is the right and appropriate word to ask question about a soccor team.
‘what’ is normally used to ask for information about a person, animal and inanimate objects or for someone's opinion:
Such as: What's your new boss like?
What is your favorite color?
So the first sentence with the pronoun ‘what’ is OK