⚽ Brazil to go foreign-made?

Hello! Welcome to another edition of the Brazil Sports newsletter! If you have any questions about this newsletter, or topics you’d like to see covered in future issues, you can reach us at euan@brazilian.report 

Forget Made in Brazil. The national team is looking abroad for a new coach

As we mentioned in last week’s newsletter, the CBF, Brazilian football’s governing body, decided to part ways with the Brazilian men’s team manager Dorival Júnior, just days after an embarrassing 4-1 loss to archrivals Argentina in a World Cup qualifier.

Dorival’s tenure as national team coach will not be remembered fondly. Mild optimism from solid friendly performances against England and Spain in early 2024 quickly gave way to negativity after Brazil were dumped out of the Copa América on penalties later that year. In World Cup qualifying, Dorival’s eight matches in charge gave way to four wins, two draws and two losses — but that Argentina defeat, Brazil’s heaviest reversal in World Cup qualifying history, will stick as the defining moment of his stint.

To replace him, recently re-elected CBF president Ednaldo Rodrigues wants Carlo Ancelotti, the serial champion manager of Real Madrid. In 2023, Rodrigues went as far as claiming Ancelotti had already agreed terms to coach Brazil, but the move never materialized.

Bookies, meanwhile, make Al-Hilal’s Portuguese coach Jorge Jesus the odds-on favorite. Jesus has only spent a year working in Brazil in his career, managing Flamengo between 2019 and 2020, but he managed to win an astonishing five trophies in that short period, cementing his reputation as a top coach in Brazil’s eyes.

Beyond those two, the CBF’s shortlist reportedly also includes Palmeiras’s coach Abel Ferreira and José Mourinho — currently managing Fenerbahçe in Turkey.

Regardless of who the CBF are able to attract, if it is one from that four-man shortlist, then Brazil will be breaking a long-held taboo: the national team has never been permanently managed by a foreign coach.

And the fact that this novelty has barely registered in the Brazilian press shows just how far the national team has fallen in the public estimation. In recent generations, Brazil’s refusal to hire foreign coaches — even when those foreign coaches were at the top of the sport — was almost a source of pride.

In 2012, leaving Barcelona after winning three league titles and two Champions League trophies, Spanish coach Pep Guardiola reportedly showed interest in managing the Brazilian national team — but the CBF shot him down.

But that was not always the case with Brazil. In fact, in 1958, when the country won its very first World Cup, it was only a piece of unrelated interstate politicking that kept Brazil from being led by a foreign coach.

Brazil’s lesser-known foreign managers 

In the lead-up to the World Cup in Sweden, João Havelange, the newly elected president of Brazil’s football federation (then the CBD), had to walk a delicate tightrope when selecting the members of the delegation that would travel to the tournament.

Hailing from Rio de Janeiro, Havelange had to make sure there was sufficient representation from São Paulo, so as not to cause a media scandal.

When it came time to pick the coach, the two obvious candidates were managing Rio de Janeiro clubs: Vasco da Gama manager Martim Francisco, and Flamengo’s coach Fleitas Solich. The latter was the standout option — it just so happened he was from Paraguay.

In the end, as the Brazilian sports press reported at the time, Solich’s name was “vetoed” — not because of his lack of a Brazilian passport, but because he was too identified with Rio de Janeiro. Vicente Feola, known for winning trophies at São Paulo 10 years prior, was given the job instead.

A counterfactual history of Brazil becoming world champions while being led by a charismatic Paraguayan manager would make for an interesting read.

But Brazil’s national team has been managed by foreign coaches before. Uruguayan coach Ramón Platero held the job on a temporary basis for 19 days in the 1920s; Portuguese manager Joreca co-managed Brazil for two friendlies in 1944; and Argentine Filpo Nuñez had the job for a day in 1965, when São Paulo club Palmeiras represented Brazil’s national team in a friendly against Uruguay — Nuñez was the Palmeiras coach at the time.

The Portuguese school

While luring Ancelotti to manage Brazil is a personal project of the CBF president, giving the job to Jorge Jesus would perhaps make more sense, crowning the recent trend of Portuguese managers obtaining success in Brazil.

In the current top division of Brazilian football, nine of the 20 top-flight teams have foreign coaches — and five of them are Portuguese. 

Of the last six editions of the Brasileirão, four have been won by Portuguese coaches. Three of the last five managers to win the Copa Libertadores have also been Portuguese.

This trend can be initially credited to Jorge Jesus, whose superb Flamengo sides of 2019 and 2020 opened clubs’ eyes, at a time when foreign coaches were still looked upon with suspicion and disbelief.

His success paved the way for Abel Ferreira to join Palmeiras, who won everything there was to win in South America in a very short space of time. By that time, every manager-less club in the league would have at least one Portuguese coach on their shortlist. Will the Brazilian national team be next?

Other stories we’re following

⚖️ It was a mixed bag for Brazil’s representatives in the first matchday of the Copa Libertadores this midweek. There were wins for São Paulo, Palmeiras and Flamengo, while Botafogo and Fortaleza suffered defeats. In Group F, Brazilians Bahia and Internacional faced off against each other, finishing in a 1-1 draw.

⚽ And the Brasileirão league season also kicked off last weekend. Palmeiras and Botafogo drew in São Paulo, while there was an important win for Vasco, seeing off Santos 2-1. They face Corinthians this weekend.

💰 According to sports marketing firm Sports Value, Brazilian football clubs’ revenue from transfers abroad rose 88% in 2024, hitting a total of USD 592 million. Meanwhile, however, transfer spend from Brazilian clubs rose 141% to USD 353 million.

😯 With the Brasileirão season now underway, all 20 top-flight clubs are sponsored by online betting firms. A whopping 90% have bookmakers as their main shirt sponsor.

🏈 The NFL announced an expansion to its Global Markets Program, with the Detroit Lions and Philadelphia Eagles granted marketing rights to build brand awareness and fandom in Brazil. The New England Patriots and Miami Dolphins already enjoy said rights in the country.