As Brazil mourns the great Mario Zagallo, who died on Friday at the age of 92, the contrast becomes sharper between the days of past glory for the national team and the present-day administrative chaos.
The five-time men’s World Cup winners have made a stuttering start to their campaign to reach the 2026 tournament. They have lost three of their first six matches including their first-ever home defeat in a qualifier at the hands of neighbours and bitter rivals Argentina, a match which was marred by police clashing with fans.
All the while, they have been beset by turmoil at the CBF (Brazil’s football federation.) As the old phrase puts it, Brazil is not for beginners, and the recent events need careful explanation.
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Wasn’t Carlo Ancelotti meant to be coming in as coach?
No, that ship has sailed. CBF president Ednaldo Rodrigues had hoped that Real Madrid boss Ancelotti would take over the national team for the summer’s Copa America 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 at the Bernabeu.
But on Dec. 7 a courtroom coup removed Rodrigues from his position due to irregularities in his election last year. His authoritarian manner has made him enemies, and the awful 2023 for the national teams on all fronts led to the knives being sharpened. And so at this point Rodrigues was out, so there was no one to offer Ancelotti the job and no guarantee that the next president would want him — 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 disappeared at that moment. He had cannily kept his options open, and on Dec. 29 he agreed another two-year deal with Real Madrid.
So who’s in charge of the CBF now?
Ednaldo Rodrigues.
You’re going to have to explain that one.
On Jan. 4 he was reinstated by Supreme Court judge Gilmar Mendes.
So he has ridden through the storm?
No, not at all. Mendes did not judge the merits of the case. His was purely a temporary decision, borne out of necessity. Jan. 5 was the deadline for teams to send in their squad lists for the 2024 Olympic qualifying tournament, which gets underway in Venezuela on Jan. 20. The signature of the president was needed on the squad list. Brazil had no one to sign. Mendes therefore ruled that the CBF was being harmed by not having a president, and so Rodrigues was brought back, but not on a definitive basis.
The decision to oust Rodrigues was taken and upheld at all three levels of the Brazilian legal system, and next month a full session of the Supreme Court will meet to discuss and rule on the merits of the case.
So Rodrigues is effectively a stand-in?
Yes, he is a stand in for himself, if that makes any sense.
Not really. He’s not acting like a stand-in, is he?
No, he’s taking a lot of definitive decisions. He sacked Fernando Diniz, the coach who was meant to be keeping the seat warm for Ancelotti. Diniz was due to have been in charge for the March friendlies against England and Spain, but now he goes back to being exclusively the coach of reigning South American champions Fluminense.
With Brazil down in sixth place after the first six rounds of World Cup qualifiers, the double-function of Diniz clearly has not worked. Rodrigues is closing a deal with São Paulo coach Dorival Júnior to take over the national team. São Paulo have announced that he is leaving, and Júnior has said “it is the realisation 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 taking important decisions with the flimsiest of mandates and could easily be out of a job next month. This can either be seen as an example of the kind of authoritarian behaviour which has made him so unpopular and led to legal measures being taken against him, or it could be viewed as a quest to acquire popularity, since Dorival Júnior had become a rallying point for those opposed to the idea of a foreign coach.
