Abel Braga, who came out of retirement to try to save Internacional from relegation in the Brazilian Championship, found himself apologizing for homophobic comments hours after his appearance.
The 73-year-old coach was presented on Sunday (30) by the Colorado team, which is fighting relegation with two rounds remaining in the championship. But his first interview in the city of Porto Alegre became controversial when discussing the training uniform.
Recalling a conversation with sporting director Andres D’Alessandro, Braga said: “I said [ao D´Alessandro]: ‘I don’t want my damn team training with pink shirts, it looks like a team of deer’.”
Asked about the offensive comment in the same interview, the coach claimed it was said “in a relaxed tone” as part of efforts to motivate his struggling squad.
“I needed to relax my group, you understand. I want the guys to be strong,” he explained, saying his intention was to ease the tension in the locker room.
Facing a backlash on social media, Braga felt compelled to address the controversy on Instagram before the day was over.
“I recognize that I did not make a good comment about the color pink during my press conference. Before this gets out, I apologize. Colors do not define genders. What defines them is character,” he wrote.
Neither his club nor the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation) have commented on the matter.
Internacional, in fourth place from bottom to top in the Brazilian league table, with 41 points, needs to beat São Paulo and Bragantino in their final two games to avoid relegation.
Abel Braga, who took up the role without pay with a contract covering only these remaining matches, is a club legend, having won the Copa Libertadores and Intercontinental titles as coach in 2006.
He had been retired from coaching for three years.
In 2024, coach Hélio dos Anjos was suspended for nine games in Série B for homophobic insults against the referee in a match between Paysandu and Volta Redonda. He was also ordered to pay a fine of R$20,000.
