Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti will leave the club at the end of the season to take charge of the Brazil national team.
The 65-year-old Italian will become Brazil's first foreign coach since 1965, with Xabi Alonso set to be appointed as the new Real Madrid boss after confirming his exit from Bayer Leverkusen last week.
"The greatest national team in the history of football will now be led by the most successful coach in the world," said the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) in a statement. "He will lead Brazil until the 2026 World Cup and will coach them in their next two qualifying matches against Ecuador and Paraguay next month."
Ancelotti will be the fourth non-Brazilian to coach Brazil. The last was Argentine Filpo Núñez who was in charge for one game 60 years ago.
Brazil sacked Dorival Júnior after a 4-1 thrashing by Argentina in March and are fourth in the South American qualifying table for the tournament in the US, Mexico and Canada.
Brazilian football federation (CBF) president Ednaldo Rodrigues initially delayed naming a successor after Tite's 2022 departure in the hope of persuading Ancelotti to take the role.
But the fact that the wait for him to leave Madrid initially proved too long for Ednaldo is testament to Ancelotti's success in the Spanish capital.
Dorival was named head coach in January 2024, but Brazil have stuttered their way towards next year's World Cup in North America, stumbling to five defeats and three draws from their 14 qualifiers so far.
Last month, Brazilian media reports suggested that the CBF could not afford Ancelotti's severance pay, suggesting he could instead take over the Saudi Arabia national side.
But those fears have been allayed, with Ancelotti to start with the Seleçao on May 26 ahead of qualifiers against Ecuador and Paraguay in June.
‘A statement to the world’
Ednaldo will be hoping Ancelotti can help restore Brazil's reputation as the leading force in international football.
"It is a statement to the world that we're determined to reclaim top spot on the podium," gushed Ednaldo.
The South American giants have only reached the semi-finals once in the last five World Cups, when they suffered a humiliating 7-1 defeat on home soil against Germany in 2014.
Brazil forwards Vinícius Júnior and Rodrygo Goes have both flourished under Ancelotti at Real Madrid and are key players for the national team. Centre-back Éder Militão and teenage prodigy Endrick also both play at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Ancelotti’s appointment met with a mixed reaction in Brazil. While some were ecstatic to get one of the biggest names in the game, others saw the appointment of a foreign coach as shameful.
During a trip to China this week, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said that “there are coaches in Brazil who could coach the Seleção.”
“I sincerely have nothing against him being a foreigner ... What I believe is that we have coaches in Brazil who could lead the Seleção,” Lula told journalists during a trip to China.
The president, a football fan, had already expressed scepticism about hiring Ancelotti.
“He was never the coach of Italy ... Let him solve the problems of Italy, who didn't even go to the last World Cup,” said Lula in 2023.
This time he was more open and described Ancelotti as “a great coach, tactically very well prepared.”
Ancelotti leaves Madrid as one of the club's most successful managers, winning 15 trophies across two spells with Los Blancos, including a La Liga and Champions League double last season.
In his first spell at Real Madrid he led them to La Décima in 2014 – their 10th Champions League triumph.
He has won the competition three times with Los Blancos: sacked in 2015 he returned in 2021 after Zinedine Zidane resigned to lift the trophy in 2022 and 2024.
He surpassed expectations, infamously high among Real fans, by maintaining the club's status as the strongest in Europe.
Ancelotti has also led Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain among other teams, including AC Milan with whom he won the Champions League twice as a coach in 2003 and 2007.
The Italian is the coach who has won the most Champions League trophies with five triumphs.
– TIMES/AFP
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