Brazil signs Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti 1 year ahead of 2026 World Cup

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti will leave the Spanish club and take over as coach of Brazil’s national team through the 2026 World Cup, the Brazilian soccer federation said Monday.

Ancelotti — Brazil’s first full-time foreign coach in a century — will officially take over the team after the Spanish league ends on May 25, the Brazilian federation, CBF, said in a statement published on its website and social media channels.

“Bringing Carlo Ancelotti to coach Brazil is more than a strategic movement. It is a statement to the world that we are determined to recover the top of the podium,” CBF President Ednaldo Rodrigues said. “He is the greatest coach in history and, now, he will be with the greatest national team on the planet. Together, we will write new glorious chapters of Brazilian soccer.”

There was no immediate comment on the move from Ancelotti or Real Madrid.

Brazil — a five-time world champion — had been under pressure to sign a new coach who could revitalize the team, which is in fourth place in South American qualifying for next year’s World Cup and has its 33-year-old star Neymar struggling to return to top form after an ACL injury in 2023. The top six teams will secure direct spots to the tournament, which will be co-hosted by the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

Ancelotti, 65, will replace Dorival Júnior, who was coach for 14 months and was fired in March after a 4-1 defeat to archrival Argentina.

Rodrigues said Ancelotti will take charge of Brazil ahead of its next World Cup qualifiers, away against Ecuador on June 5 and at home against Paraguay five days later. His contract with Madrid ends next year but is expected to be terminated early.

Former Madrid player Xabi Alonso is widely expected to replace Ancelotti at Real Madrid after he confirmed his departure from Bayer Leverkusen.

Real Madrid’s first competition after the Spanish league ends is the Club World Cup in the United States, which starts on June 14.

Ancelotti’s future in Madrid had been in question after a mediocre season by the club’s standards. Defending champion Real Madrid exited the Champions League in the quarterfinals and has lost all four games to rival Barcelona this season, including the Spanish cup final and a league game Sunday that left the Catalan team on the verge of securing the league title.

Brazil’s Wait

Ancelotti’s signing ends a turbulent time on Brazil’s bench since Tite left after the 2022 World Cup quarterfinals elimination against Croatia. Under-20 coach Ramon Menezes and Fluminense coach Fernando Diniz took charge for several matches as Rodrigues sought Ancelotti to become coach.

Menezes and Diniz both fared poorly, and Ancelotti extended his deal with Madrid during that span. Dorival Júnior was then chosen in 2024 to take the team to the World Cup, but he was also fired after the same lack of success.

Al-Hilal coach Jorge Jesus, a 70-year-old Portuguese who won several titles with Brazil’s Flamengo in 2019, was the favorite to take the Brazil job until Madrid was knocked out of the Champions League by Arsenal earlier in April. Local media also reported that Neymar’s father and agent had a role in stopping his son’s former coach in Saudi Arabia from taking over.

A first for Ancelotti

Brazil will be Ancelotti’s first international experience as full-time coach. He was an assistant to Italy coach Arrigo Sacchi in the 1994 World Cup.

As a player Ancelotti, won Serie A titles with Roma and AC Milan and two European titles with the latter as a creative midfielder. He started his full-time coaching career in 1995 at Italy’s Reggiana.

He’s also coached Parma, Juventus, AC Milan, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Napoli and Everton — winning titles in Italy, England, Spain, France and Germany.

He led Milan to the Champions League trophy in 2003 and 2007 and added three more titles with Real Madrid in 2014, 2022 and last year.

It is highly unusual for Brazil to be led by a foreign coach, though there are some previous examples. Uruguayan Ramón Platero coached Brazil in the 1925 South American championship, the predecessor of the current Copa America, holding the job for just 19 days and four matches.

Portuguese coach Jorge Gomes de Lima, known as Joreca, co-led Brazil with Brazilian Flavio Costa in two friendly victories over Uruguay in 1944. And in 1965 Argentine Filpo Nuñez coached Brazil for one day. Nuñez was Palmeiras’ coach, and Brazil’s soccer body chose the Sao Paulo-based club to play with national team shirts in a friendly against Uruguay in the opening of the Mineirao Stadium in Belo Horizonte.

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