RIO DE JANEIRO – Dorival Junior, a Copa Libertadores and Brazilian Cup winner as coach of Flamengo, has been named as Brazil boss, the national association announced on Jan 10.
The 61-year-old will take the reins of the five-time world champions after a turbulent period following their 2022 World Cup exit via a penalty shoot-out loss to Croatia, which led to the departure of coach Tite.
Brazil were led on an interim basis by Fluminense coach Fernando Diniz in 2023.
He was sacked on Jan 5, a day after Ednaldo Rodrigues was reinstated as head of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) following his dismissal in early December by the Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice.
Rodrigues’ intention was to hire Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti. But, after negotiations failed and he opted to extend his contract with Real Madrid, Dorival was the main candidate.
“Dorival Junior is the new coach of the men’s national team,” the CBF said in a statement.
The CBF did not specify the length of his contract, but reports said that it would run through the 2026 World Cup.
Dorival, who has coached Atletico Mineiro, Athletico Paranaense, Internacional, Vasco da Gama, Fluminense and Palmeiras, led Flamengo to the Copa Libertadores – the South American equivalent of Europe’s Champions League – and Copa do Brasil in 2022.
He then joined Sao Paulo, who confirmed his decision to leave on Jan 7.
Restoring Brazil to their former glory will be no easy task.
Dorival takes charge of a struggling side, who have made a poor start to South American World Cup qualifying, and sit sixth in the standings with two wins from six games and three defeats.
They last reached the World Cup final in 2002 when they lifted the trophy for the last time.
They made the semi-finals only once in the following five editions.
At the 2006 tournament in Germany, they were eliminated by France in the last eight under Carlos Alberto Parreira.
Then, with former great Dunga at the helm, they lost to the Netherlands in the 2010 quarter-finals.
Luiz Felipe Scolari, who led them to their fifth and final World Cup title, returned for a second stint, but his hopes on home soil in 2014 ended in a humiliating 7-1 semi-final defeat by Germany.
Under Tite, who took the job in 2016, Brazil were among the favourites in 2018 in Russia and in Qatar four years later but they crashed out in the quarter-finals both times.
Dorival is set to make his debut in March, when Brazil play England in a friendly at Wembley. REUTERS, AFP
