Coach Tite was announced this Tuesday (16) as Cruzeiro’s new coach. The former coach of the Brazilian national team arrives to replace the Portuguese Leonardo Jardim, who left the Minas Gerais club on Monday (15), after being eliminated by Corinthians in the semi-finals of the Copa do Brasil.
The contract is valid until the end of the 2026 season. Along with the coach, assistants Matheus Bachi and Vinícius Bergantin arrive, as well as physical trainer Fábio Mahseredjian. The new technical committee will start work from the pre-season, at the beginning of January.
Tite was in Belo Horizonte this Tuesday to close the contract and see the Toca da Raposa 2 facilities.
The Caxias do Sul-born coach’s last job was at Flamengo, between October 2023 and September 2024.
In the red and black, Tite went on to win the 2024 Carioca Championship undefeated, but ended up being fired after an irregular campaign in the Copa Libertadores, with the team eliminated in the quarter-finals by Peñarol, from Uruguay.
In April, the coach was close to resuming command of Corinthians for the fourth time in his career, but ended up denying the invitation to return to the São Paulo club citing health issues. The decision was influenced by a strong anxiety attack suffered by the coach.
In November, Tite announced that he was ready to return to working in football. “I’m back! I took care of myself, I stayed with my family and I’m ready to return to my activities as a coach. Many thanks to those who supported my recovery, respected my time and sent me messages, prayers and good thoughts”, announced the coach.
Tite was in charge of the national team in the last two World Cups. In both, the team fell in the quarter-finals, to Belgium, in Russia, in 2018, and to Croatia, in Qatar, in 2022. It also won the Copa América, in 2019, and came second in 2021.
