In a historic move that signals a new era for Brazilian football, Real Madrid’s manager and head coach is leaving the team.
Legendary Italian manager Carlo Ancelotti will depart Real Madrid at the end of the La Liga season to take over as head coach of Brazil’s national team. The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) made the announcement Monday, officially confirming Ancelotti’s appointment as the Seleção’s first full-time foreign coach in over a century.
Ancelotti, 65, will begin coaching the five-time world champions on May 26, one day after the final round of the Spanish league. He will make his coaching debut with Brazil in two critical World Cup qualifiers: an away match against Ecuador on June 5t and a home fixture against Paraguay on June 10th.
The Brazilian federation said in a statement published on its website and social media channels.
“Bringing Carlo Ancelotti to coach Brazil is more than a strategic movement. It is a statement to the world that we are determined to recover the top of the podium,” CBF President Ednaldo Rodrigues said. “He is the greatest coach in history and, now, he will be with the greatest national team on the planet. Together, we will write new glorious chapters of Brazilian soccer.”
By appointing Ancelotti to coach the national team, ends months of speculation and internal tension within Brazil’s football federation. Since Tite, the manager before Ancelotti, left after Brazil’s 2022 World Cup quarterfinal loss to Croatia, the team has cycled through numerous interim coaches and has struggled to regain its dominance in South American competition. Most recently, Dorival Júnior, the former coach of the Brazilian national team, was dismissed in March after a humiliating 4-1 defeat to archrivals Argentina.
Jack Wilson, a junior boarder from San Francisco, believes Ancelotti is a legendary coach.
“Ancelotti’s legacy at Real Madrid is undeniable, Brazil’s gain is a massive loss for Madrid,” he said. “He’s the kind of coach who doesn’t just manage players, he elevates them.”
Despite Ancelotti’s decorated résumé and recent Champions League triumphs, Real Madrid endured a frustrating 2024–25 campaign. The club was eliminated in the Champions League quarterfinals, lost all four matchups with Barcelona this season, and is on the verge of surrendering the La Liga title.
Ancelotti’s exit now clears way for former Madrid midfielder and current Bayer Leverkusen manager Xabi Alonso, who is expected to return to take over as the next manager of Real Madrid. Alonso, 43, recently led Leverkusen to a domestic double in Germany and is considered one of the brightest young managers in the sport.
Tristan Kokoszka, a Junior day student on the Varsity Williston soccer team expressed how the end to Ancelotti’s career was not ideal.
“Madrid with supposedly the best team in the world lost every single matchup to [Barcelona] this year, and they also lost both matchups to Arsenal,” he said. “I think [Ancelotti] leaving does not change the issues Madrid still has.”
Kiran Matamala, a sophomore boarder from, New Rochelle, N.Y. thinks Ancelotti is a great coach.
“I think that Ancelotti is a very good coach and he helped Madrid in many ways and had many good seasons with the club. I think this season the players did not do to well which made people blame Ancelotti leading to his replacement Xabi Alonso,” he said. “Personally I think the Brazil national team will do very well under Ancelotti because of his playstyle which is small passes to counter attack which fits most of the players on that national team like Vini Jr. I think he will also do well there because he already knows most of the national team just by his coaching career.”
