Carlo Ancelotti is the tenth attempt by the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation) to try to make Brazil regain its lost hegemony. Since 2002, when the men’s team last won the world title, there have been different bets. Experienced, novice, repeat trainer. Short and long term jobs.
Ancelotti, Italian, is the fourth foreigner. Since Luiz Felipe Scolari was champion in 2002, Brazil has had Carlos Alberto Parreira, Dunga (twice), Mano Menezes, Scolari again, Tite, Ramon Menezes, Fernando Diniz and Dorival Júnior.
Tite (2018 and 2022) was the second to command Brazil in two consecutive World Cups. The other was Telê Santana (1982 and 1986).
Before Ancelotti, Brazil had three coaches born abroad. All with very short spells: Uruguayan Ramón Platero (1925, four games), Portuguese Joreca (1944, one game) and Argentine Filpo Núñez (1965, one game).
In June 2026, Brazil reaches 24 years without reaching the top of the world football mountain. The last time the fast was this big happened between 1970 and 1994.
If the team does not win the tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico, it will only have another chance in 2030. It would then be 28 years, the longest title drought in the team’s history, alongside the period between the inaugural World Cup (1930) and the first victory (1958).
“I want to take advantage of the enormous quality that this country has. That this quality can come together with a single objective, which is to win the World Cup,” said Ancelotti.
The hegemony in individual awards is experiencing a comeback. After the creation of the choice of best in the world by FIFA (International Football Federation), in 1991, the country came first with Romário (1994), Ronaldo (1996, 1997 and 2002), Rivaldo (1999), Ronaldinho Gaúcho (2004, 2005 and 2006) and Kaká (2007). From then on, an unprecedented hiatus began, interrupted only by Vinicius Junior in 2024.
There were 17 years in which the best results were with Neymar (third in 2015 and 2017).
“The player’s training has changed. We no longer have a floodplain field, we no longer see boys playing on the street. We see small schools. We lost to technology”, said João Paulo Sampaio, Palmeiras’ youth academy coordinator.
The São Paulo club became a reference and won 31 titles in the amateur categories in 2024. Estêvão, 17, was sold to Chelsea for 61.5 million euros (R$377.6 million).
“The clay field, the one with potholes or the street, provided control [de bola] better. Today, we took what was bad from the Europeans. We give tactics to boys aged 10 or 11. How many times have I gone to a school and heard the teacher say ‘pass the ball’, ‘touch the ball’? You have to say: ‘Like the ball, play, take risks'”, said Sampaio.
In none of the last four World Cups (2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022) did Brazil average more than two goals scored per match. This mark was obtained every time the country had a team that stuck its image in the imagination of national and international fans: 2.57 in 2002; 3 in 1982; 3.16 in 1970; 2.66 in 1958 and 3.66 in 1950.
The team fell to the quarterfinals in four of the last five World Cups (2006, 2010, 2018 and 2022). In the other, in 2014, he went all the way to the semi-finals to beat Germany 7-1.
Brazilian football lives two realities. The clubs, which in the past lived without money and in the shadow of Argentines and Uruguayans in continental tournaments, turned the tide. There have been seven titles in the last eight Copa Libertadores. This is not reflected in the selection.
FIFA report points out that, last year, there were 2,350 international transfers. Brazil led the list by far, with 1,217 sales, generating revenue of US$591.5 million (R$3.06 billion).
The increase in revenue generated by these negotiations, TV contracts, sponsorships, fan membership fees and tickets made the teams buyers. Of the ten clubs that spent the most on signings in South America, nine are Brazilian (Botafogo, Cruzeiro, Flamengo, Vasco, Corinthians, Atlético-MG, Palmeiras, São Paulo and Fluminense).
The team may also be a victim of the globalization of football. 45 years ago, a player playing abroad being called up for the World Cup was a rare event. Until 1982, the only “foreigner” called up by Brazil for the World Cup was winger Patesko, who was at Nacional-URU in 1934.
Sócrates, captain of the team at the World Cup in Spain, even spoke out against the call-up of midfielder Paulo Roberto Falcão because he was abroad. The proportion of “outside” athletes became increasingly larger, but until the penta, in 2002, the majority always played in Brazil. This changed from 2006 onwards. In the tournament in Germany, 20 of the 23 called up by Parreira were abroad.
In the last tournament, in 2022, in Qatar, there were 23 of the 26 selected.
Women still seek the top
The situation is different in the women’s team, which still seeks the hegemony that once belonged to the men’s team. Despite having the most decorated player in history, Brazil has never won the World Cup or won the gold medal at the Olympic Games.
In this modality, countries can take maximum force. This is different from men’s teams, which are only allowed to call up three players over the age of 23. FIFA imposes the restriction because it is not in its commercial interests to hold a technical World Cup tournament every two years.
At the Olympics, women won silver in 2004, 2008 and 2024. The World Cup was born in 1991. In nine editions, Brazil was runner-up in 2007 and third in 1999.
In individual awards, there is no comparison. The player voted best in the world most times was striker Marta, winner in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2018.
Any comparison with men is unreasonable. The Brazilian Championship was born in 2013. Only in recent years has the sport started to be shown on open TV, and the players have become salaried. Only in the big clubs, however.
“What we see today is a resumption, both of knowledge about sporting history and a reconstruction of not only Brazilian, but global engagement, in relation to this sport played by women. Technically, on the field, they sometimes offer a much more interesting spectacle than the male one”, said historian Aira Bonfim, author of the book “Women’s football in Brazil: between parties, circuses and suburbs, a social history (1915-1941)”.
She cites “resumption” because women were prohibited, by law, from playing football in Brazil for four decades. It was only released in 1979. This delayed the game and made the public unaccustomed to watching the sport.
“Today we are experiencing a late professionalization, of a national team and an organization of a market that was established for men’s football and is trying to adapt [às mulheres]”Aira said.
There is a financial abyss. The biggest transfer in the history of Brazilian women’s football was the sale of striker Amanda Gutierres, from Palmeiras to Boston Legacy (USA), this year, for US$1.1 million (R$5.7 million). Not counting the percentage for advertising contracts, Neymar’s agreement with Santos alone is worth R$4 million per month.
In 2025 there was also the biggest negotiation in the modality of all time. Frenchwoman of Congolese origin Grace Geyoro transferred from Paris Saint-Germain to London City for 1.43 million pounds (R$10.08 million). The most expensive transaction ever recorded in the men’s league was that of Neymar from Barcelona to PSG, in 2017: 222 million euros (R$1.4 billion).
