Mega chaos in Brazilian football
President returns and immediately fires the national coach
January 5, 2024, 11:13 p.m
Brazilian football is experiencing turbulent times. The team has to worry about qualifying for the next World Cup. That has consequences: Coach Fernando Diniz is flying. On the instructions of the association president. He’s only been back in office for a day.
According to media reports, Fernando Diniz has lost his job as Brazilian national soccer coach. A day after Ednaldo Rodrigues returned as association president, a separation apparently occurred. The 69-year-old reported the decision to the president of the Fluminense Rio de Janeiro club, where Diniz also works as a coach, TV Globo reported. In November, Diniz won the Copa Libertadores with Fluminense. At the end of December he and his team lost to Manchester City in the Club World Cup final.
Diniz was hired as the Selecao’s interim coach in July last year, initially for one year. The association actually wanted the Italian Carlo Ancelotti to take over the national team for the Copa América in the USA. However, Ancelotti recently surprisingly extended his contract with Real Madrid until 2026. Since successful coach Tite was fired after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the association has been looking for a long-term solution. Neither his successor Ramon Menezes nor Diniz turned out to be this.
President Rodrigues was only brought back into office on Thursday following a decision by the Supreme Court, after a court in the state of Rio de Janeiro had previously removed him. He was accused of irregularities that are said to have led to his election in 2022. The world association FIFA then threatened the association with sanctions if its intervention led to the election of a new president. The sanctions would have had serious consequences and included an immediate suspension of the national team and all club teams from all international competitions. The Court anticipated this with its decision.
Diniz only managed the national team for six games, all of them in qualifying for the 2024 World Cup. The balance was just two wins, one draw and three defeats. The five-time world champion is in sixth place and therefore has to worry about his right to start the tournament. According to the Brazilian newspaper “Folha de São Paulo”, one of the candidates to succeed Diniz is Dorival Júnior from FC São Paulo.