Former Arsenal Standout Makes Bold Claim About Brazil's FA Hiring Carlo Ancelotti
When the final whistle blows next weekend in the match between Real Madrid and Real Sociedad, Carlo Ancelotti will need to head to Brazil to take over the managerial job. However, one former FIFA World Cup winner admits that he wasn’t on board with having a foreign manager.
Brazil’s FA hiring a foreign manager is rare territory for the country with five World Cups. Nonetheless, with the last trophy coming in 2002, their federation is willing to make a drastic gamble to ensure that Brazil lifts a World Cup in 2026.
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Ancelotti will become the first foreign coach to take complete charge of the Brazil men’s national team since 1925. While the Italian certainly has the pedigree to lead Brazil, former Arsenal standout and World Cup winner Gilberto Silva said he preferred to see a Brazilian in charge.
Me, in particular—if you ask me, Gilberto—I would prefer to have a Brazilian manager. But obviously, you respect Carlo so much. People accept the idea, and everybody is looking forward to seeing him work and put Brazil in the right position.Gilberto Silva
The last foreign manager that Brazil’s FA appointed was Uruguay’s Ramón Platero, who led the team in four matches that year. Since then, only two other foreign coaches — Portugal’s Joreca and Argentina’s Filpo Núñez — have had brief stints in charge, both in non-competitive games.
Despite his preference, Silva, who spent seven years with Arsenal, does see the positives of having Ancelotti on the sidelines. Moreover, the veteran manager can be a father figure to the squad and protect them when facing media criticism, which has been a lot in recent years.
The soon-to-be former Real Madrid manager will reunite with Vinicius Jr., and one of his main tasks will be to get the best out of the Brazilian star, just as he did in Spain. All eyes will be on Ancelotti when he takes the sidelines for Brazil next month in World Cup qualifiers against Paraguay and Colombia.
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Eduardo is an experienced freelance football writer covering Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and PSG On SI. He also covers PSG for PSG Talk and French football for Ligue 1's official English website. He's contributed to NBC Sports' regional sports networks, including NBC Sports Washington and NBC Sports Bay Area & California, providing in-depth sports content for those markets.