Inelegant, prejudiced and unacceptable. In this way, the CBF (Brazilian Confederation) and the FBTF (Brazilian Federation of Football Coaches) classified the statements by Oswaldo de Oliveira and Emerson Leão.
The duo criticized the presence of foreign coaches in national football during the 2nd Brazilian Football Coaches Forum, held on Tuesday (4), at the CBF headquarters, in Rio de Janeiro. The speeches took place in the presence of the Italian Carlo Ancelotti, coach of the Brazilian team, invited to receive a tribute from the organizers.
The first to shoot against foreigners working as coaches in Brazil was Leão.
“I’ve always said that I don’t like foreign coaches in my country. I’ve said that and I’m not changing my opinion,” said the former goalkeeper on stage at the event, alongside Ancelotti. At 76 years old, he last worked as a coach in 2012, when he managed São Caetano.
World champion with the Brazilian team in 1970, Leão also considered that the blame for the growing presence of foreigners in charge of clubs in the country is due to the Brazilian coaches themselves.
“I have to be smart enough to say that this all has a culprit. We, coaches, are guilty of the invasion of other coaches, who have nothing to do with this.”
Afterwards, it was Oswaldo de Oliveira’s turn to take the microphone and also shoot at the foreign coaches on Brazilian soil.
“I didn’t want a foreign coach, but there was no way, if it had to be, that it would be this gentleman [Ancelotti]. I hope to be that gentleman,” said Oswaldo, 74, whose last job was in 2019, at Fluminense. “After he leaves, world champion, let a Brazilian come.”
Ancelotti listened to the statements without appearing to be particularly uncomfortable. According to reports from people present, the Italian was already aware of the dissatisfaction of Brazilian technicians with the presence of foreigners, but avoided getting into controversy.
In a statement at the opening of the forum, the national team coach had already addressed the lack of presence of Brazilian coaches in other countries.
“One of the first things I heard and that I don’t understand is why the Brazilian coach can’t train in Europe? It means that the figure is a little weak”, said the coach.
The CBF and the FBTF itself released notes hours later repudiating the statements by Leão and Oswaldo de Oliveira.
“The statements made during the Brazilian Coaches Forum, addressed to coach Carlo Ancelotti and foreign professionals who work in Brazil, were, to say the least, inelegant, to say the least, and do not reflect the true feeling of the Brazilian people,” wrote Gustavo Feijó, director of the CBF, in a post on social media.
“Just as we want our coaches to be treated with respect outside the country, we must also welcome professionals who choose to work here with consideration. Divergent opinions are part of the debate, but prejudiced and unnecessary statements do not contribute to the process of rebuilding and valuing our football”, added the director.
The federation, in turn, said that Oswaldo de Oliveira’s speeches were “unacceptable” and “disrespectful”.
According to the FBTF, the former coach’s statements “reached the CBF”, which agreed to provide space at its headquarters to host the event.
“We, football coaches, know that football has no borders. Coach Carlo Ancelotti is an extremely competent professional, with enormous achievements and who deserves all the respect from the coaches category”, highlighted the entity.
Even during the event, the director of the coaches’ federation, Alfredo Sampaio, had already condemned the statements.
“I want to publicly express my rejection of Oswaldo de Oliveira. He behaved inappropriately. I’m saying this because he created a big institutional problem for us,” said Sampaio.
“Here, it was Brazilian coaches who were trying to get closer to the most important sporting institution in the country […] I confess to you that I don’t know if we will be able to do everything we planned because of a person who didn’t have the balance to understand where he was and didn’t realize what couldn’t be said.”
