Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti would leave the club at the end of the season to take charge of the Brazilian national team, the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) announced on Monday.
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 04 Leverkusen last week.
“The greatest national team in the history of football will now be led by the most successful coach in the world,” the CBF said in a statement. “He will lead Brazil until the 2026 [FIFA] World Cup and will coach them in their next two qualifying matches against Ecuador and Paraguay next month.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
Ancelotti will be the fourth non-Brazilian to coach Brazil. The last was Argentine Filpo Nunez who was in charge for one game 60 years ago.
Brazil sacked Dorival Junior 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.
“Bringing Carlo Ancelotti to lead Brazil is more than a strategic move — it’s a statement to the world that we are determined to regain the top spot on the podium,” CBF president Ednaldo Rodrigues said. “He’s the greatest coach in history and now he’s in charge of the greatest team on the planet.”
Photo: AP
“Together, we will write glorious new chapters for Brazilian football,” he said.
Record five-time World Cup winners Brazil last won the trophy in 2002, enduring more than two decades of disappointment since then.
Rodrigues had tried to lure Ancelotti to Brazil two years ago after Tite stood down as coach following a quarter-final exit at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
That bid fell apart in December 2023 when Ancelotti extended his contract with Madrid, forcing Brazil to turn to Dorival after the team struggled under Fernando Diniz in his brief spell at the helm.
Eighteen months on from Dorival’s appointment, Ancelotti leaves Madrid with a year left on his contract as one of the club’s most successful managers, winning 15 trophies across two spells with Los Blancos, including a Spanish La Liga and UEFA Champions League double last season.
In his first spell at Real Madrid he led them to La Decima in 2014 — their 10th Champions League triumph.
He has won the competition three times with Los Blancos. After being sacked in 2015, he returned six years later when Zinedine Zidane resigned to lift the trophy again in 2022 and last year.
Ancelotti has also led Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich 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 European cup most often, triumphing on five occasions — two more than Zidane, Pep Guardiola and Bob Paisley.
At Real Madrid, Ancelotti has coached Brazil stars Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo Goes and Eder Militao, as well as teenage talent Endrick.
The coach would leave Madrid on May 25 after the club’s final La Liga match of the season against Real Sociedad.
Madrid are set to finish the season empty-handed after losing the “El Clasico” at Barcelona on Sunday to fall seven points behind their league leading arch-rivals.
Ancelotti would oversee Madrid’s home game against Mallorca today and the trip to Sevilla on Sunday, departing before the FIFA Club World Cup this summer in the US.
The coach has won league titles in the five major European leagues, in Spain, England, Italy, Germany and France across a 30-year managerial career.
Spanish media on Monday reported that Leverkusen coach Alonso is set to take over at Real Madrid on June 1, ahead of the Club World Cup.
Madrid’s first match is against Saudi side Al-Hilal in Miami on June 18.
FRUSTRATION: Alcaraz made several unforced errors over four sets against Bosnian Damir Dzumhur, who had never made it past the third round in a major competition Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz reached the fourth round of the French Open after laboring past Damir Dzumhur 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the Friday night session. The second-seeded Spaniard had never before played Dzumhur, a 33-year-old Bosnian who had never been past the third round at any major tournament. “I suffered quite a lot today,” Alcaraz said. “The first two sets was under control, then he started to play more deeply and more aggressively. It was really difficult for me.” Dzumhur hurt his left knee in a fall in the second round, and had treatment on Friday on his right leg during the
‘DREAM’: The 5-0 victory was PSG’s first Champions League title, and the biggest final win by any team in the 70-year history of the top-flight European competition Paris Saint-Germain won the Champions League for the first time as Luis Enrique’s brilliant young side outclassed Inter on Saturday in the most one-sided final ever with teenager Desire Doue scoring twice in an astonishing 5-0 victory. Doue supplied the pass for Achraf Hakimi to give PSG an early lead and the 19-year-old went from provider to finisher as his deflected shot doubled the advantage in the 20th minute. Doue scored again just after the hour mark, ending any doubt about the outcome before Khvicha Kvaratskhelia ran away to get the fourth and substitute Senny Mayulu, another teenager, made it five. Inter were
The horn sounded on Wednesday night to signal a third straight trip to the Stanley Cup Final, as the Florida Panthers celebrated merely by hopping over the boards and several heading over to congratulate goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. It was a subdued celebration seemingly more befitting a regular-season win for the reigning Cup champs. “I remember a few years ago, it felt like such an accomplishment from where we were at one point,” forward Matthew Tkachuk said, adding: “It’s all business and we’ve got a bigger goal in mind.” The Panthers closed out the Carolina Hurricanes in five games, with a 5-3 victory in
The Edmonton Oilers on Thursday defeated the Dallas Stars 6-3 to book their place in the Stanley Cup Finals, setting up a repeat of last year’s NHL showpiece against reigning champions the Florida Panthers. The Oilers, bidding to become the first Canadian team to win the NHL’s championship series since the 1993 Montreal Canadiens, head to Florida for Game 1 of the best-of-seven series set for Wednesday. Florida, who are to play in the NHL showpiece for the third straight season, won last year’s title 4-3 to extend Canada’s decades-long Stanley Cup drought. Connor McDavid led Edmonton back to the championship series on