The Brazilian Football Confederation has announced that Dorival Junior will be taking over as the coach of the national team.
In a brief statement, the Brazilian Football Confederation said: “Dorival Junior is the new coach of the Brazilian national football team.” The statement added that Junior will be officially presented at a press conference today, Thursday.
Junior announced his departure from coaching São Paulo last Sunday, saying it was “a personal dream that has become a reality.” He will replace Fernando Diniz, who lost his job due to poor results.
The interim coach, Diniz, was forced to leave after the Brazilian national team suffered three consecutive defeats, including a 1-0 loss at home to the Argentine national team in the qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.
The Brazilian team, a five-time World Cup winner, is currently in sixth place in the qualifying group, which includes ten teams.
Diniz, who was appointed last year, had a contract with the Brazilian team until the Copa America next summer. It was expected that Carlo Ancelotti, the Real Madrid coach, would take over the team after that as the first foreign coach of the Brazilian national team. However, the Italian coach recently renewed his contract with Real Madrid until 2026.
In his coaching career, Junior started as an assistant at Matonense in 1999. He became the head coach of Ferroviária in 2002, his first club, and went on to manage several teams including Figueirense, Fortaleza, Cruzeiro, and Flamengo. Junior had notable spells at Santos, leading them to the 2010 Campeonato Paulista and 2010 Copa do Brasil titles, and at Flamengo, where he won the Copa Libertadores and the Brazil Cup in 2022. He is known for his offensive football style and had a notable altercation with Neymar during his time at Santos.
Before taking over the Brazilian national team, Junior had his third spell at Flamengo and coached São Paulo, leading them to their first Brazil Cup title in the previous year.
