As Brazil mourns the great Mario Zagallo, who died on Friday at the age of 92, the contrast becomes more acute between the days of past glory for the national team and the current administrative chaos.
The five-time men’s world champions have made a shaky start to their campaign to reach the 2026 tournament. They have lost three of their first six matches, including their first defeat at home in a qualifying match at the hands of their neighbor and bitter rival Argentina, a match that was marred by clashes between police and fans.
Meanwhile, they have been beset by turmoil in the CBF (the Brazilian football federation). As the old saying goes, Brazil is not for beginners, and recent events need careful explanation.
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Was it not planned that Carlo Ancelotti would come in as coach?
No, that ship has already sailed. CBF president Ednaldo Rodrigues had expected Real Madrid coach Ancelotti to take charge of the national team for the summer Copa América in the middle of the year, with the deal to be confirmed this month when the Italian entered the last six months of his contract with the club. Bernabéu.
But on December 7, a coup in the courts removed Rodrigues from office due to irregularities in his election last year. His authoritarian attitude has made him enemies, and the terrible 2023 for national teams on all fronts sharpened knives. And so at that time Rodrigues was out, so there was no one to offer Ancelotti the job and there was no guarantee that the next president would want it; There has been considerable resistance in Brazil to the idea of a foreigner taking charge of the national team. .
If there was any chance of Ancelotti coming, it vanished at that moment. He had shrewdly kept his options open and on December 29 he signed another two-year contract with Real Madrid.
So who is in charge of the CBF now?
Ednaldo Rodríguez.
You’re going to have to explain that.
On January 4, he was reinstated by Supreme Court Judge Gilmar Mendes.
So you’ve weathered the storm?
Not at all. Mendes did not judge the merits of the case. His was a purely temporary decision, arising from necessity. January 5 was the deadline for teams to submit their squad lists for the 2024 Olympic qualifying tournament, which begins in Venezuela on January 20. The president’s signature was needed on the list of those summoned. Brazil had no one to sign. Mendes therefore ruled that the CBF was being harmed by not having a president, so Rodrigues was reinstated, but not permanently.
The decision to overthrow Rodrigues was made and confirmed at all three levels of the Brazilian legal system, and a plenary session of the Supreme Court will meet next month to discuss and rule on the merits of the case.
So Rodrigues is effectively a substitute?
Yes, it’s a stand-in for itself, if that makes any sense.
Not precisely. She’s not acting like a stand-in, is she?
No, you’re making a lot of final decisions. He fired Fernando Diniz, the coach who was supposed to keep the seat warm for Ancelotti. Diniz was due to have been in charge of the March friendlies against England and Spain, but now he is once again exclusively the coach of the current South American champions, Fluminense.
With Brazil in sixth place after the first six rounds of World Cup qualifying, Diniz’s dual role clearly hasn’t worked. Rodrigues is closing a deal with São Paulo coach Dorival Júnior to take charge of the national team. São Paulo announced his departure and Júnior said that “it is the realization of a personal dream” to coach Brazil, but the appointment has not yet been announced by the CBF.
This, of course, is very strange. Rodrigues is making important decisions with the weakest of mandates and could easily be out of a job next month. This can be seen as an example of the type of authoritarian behavior that made him so unpopular and led to legal action being taken against him, or it could be seen as a quest to gain popularity, as Dorival Júnior had become a hot spot. meeting. for those who oppose the idea of a foreign coach.
How has FIFA taken all this?
With some perplexity. A FIFA commission is in Brazil and will hold talks this week at the CBF to try to resolve the situation. There was a real problem before Rodrigues was reinstated. The Rio de Janeiro court appointed lawyer José Perdiz to take charge of the CBF on an interim basis until elections are called. FIFA demanded that elections not be held until its commission’s visit and did not recognize Perdiz, as world soccer’s governing body takes a dim view of government interference in soccer associations. But there is a complication.
Of course. Continue.
Brazil appeared to be in pole position to host the next Women’s World Cup in 2027. The election will be made in May, meaning this is the worst possible time for the CBF to be left without a rider. And organizing such an event requires considerable government support and involvement. The government will surely have some kind of role in the discussions that will take place with FIFA in the coming days. It could be significant that Rodrigues’ reinstatement request came from the Brazilian Communist Party, which is part of the ruling coalition, and was also supported by the country’s Attorney General.
So the Women’s World Cup could be the most important part of the entire story?
Very possibly. Although it boils down to proof of Rodrigues’ popularity, the case itself is riddled with technicalities. In a country the size of a continent, what should be the respective weight in the voting of the state federations? facing the clubs? Ancelotti’s situation has come and gone. The area where this issue could have clear and understandable ramifications is Brazil’s bid to host 2027.
South Africa was seen as the big threat but has withdrawn to focus on 2031. The other candidates are the United States, which will host the men’s tournament in two years and does not need to host another major championship, and a joint bid from Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, three nations that sit alongside France, the 2019 host nation.
Brazil’s bid is not only much more interesting, but also cheaper: all the major investments were made for the men’s World Cup a decade ago. And it’s important. Holding the competition will give visibility and impetus to a sport that would have developed more quickly if it had received more attention in the early years of the century.
At one point, Brazil was close to being considered the best team in the world, but has since regressed. Hosting a World Cup could help them get back on track in both the short and long term. These are vital months in which people within FIFA need to be convinced of the merits of Brazil’s bid and the quality of those who will form the local organizing committee.
Brazil has a real opportunity, and it would be a terrible waste if it were squandered as a result of political infighting.
