Rio de Janeiro (AFP)
Dorival Junior will coach the Brazilian national football team, as announced by his current club, Sao Paulo. The Brazilian Football Confederation had dismissed interim coach Fernando Diniz from his position two days ago, after he took over his position last July, succeeding the other interim coach, Ramon Menezes.
The official website of the Sao Paulo Club on “AX” (formerly Twitter) quoted Dorival as saying: “It is a personal dream that has become a reality.”
Dorival (61 years old) succeeded in leading Flamengo to two major titles in 2022, the Brazilian Cup and the Libertadores Cup (equivalent to the European Champions League), before moving to coach Sao Paulo, which led him to also win the Brazilian Cup in 2023.
The Brazilian national team has remained without a permanent coach since Tite's departure, after exiting in the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Qatar at the end of 2022, leaving the task temporarily to Menezes and then to Fluminense coach Diniz.
Diniz failed to improve the disappointing results of the Seleção, as it suffered three successive defeats last October and November in the South American qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, including a loss at home to its rival, the Argentine world champion.
Italian Carlo Ancelotti was supposed to take over the task of supervising the Brazilian national team next summer, but this file was closed after the Italian decided to extend his contract with his current team, Real Madrid, until 2026.
Brazil occupies sixth place in the South American qualifiers, and it is the last place that qualifies directly to the 2026 World Cup, scheduled for the United States, Canada and Mexico.
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