Can Ancelotti really save Brazilian football? This article analyzes the current situation of Brazilian football

Multi-dimensional dialysis of Brazil's decline

In the map of the football world, Brazil once shone like a bright star, and the five World Cup champions witnessed its glorious past. However, when it comes to Brazilian football, "decline" has become a frequent keyword. Many domestic fans believe that Brazilians are still immersed in the glory of the past and are completely unaware of the current situation. Is this really the case? In fact, the Brazilians have long been aware of the many crises in the football system. The Brazilian Football Association has spared no expense to hire Ancelotti, which is a powerful proof of his urgent search for change.

1. Tactical innovation sluggish: the chain reaction of utilitarianism in youth training

Samba football, which was once known for its gorgeous personal skills, is now gradually showing decline under the wave of European collectivist football. Behind this style difference is the overall backwardness of the Brazilian football tactical system, and the root cause is the utilitarian tendency of the youth training system.

is in sharp contrast with the youth training models in Barcelona, ​​Spain and Germany, and Brazil has significant shortcomings. Barcelona focuses on cultivating players' tactical thinking from an early age, and arranges youth training players to learn tactical classes to let them understand the importance of team cooperation and tactical execution; Germany gradually transitions from "6V6" small games to a standard 11-person game through a gradual competition system, helping players to deeply understand tactical cooperation. In contrast, Brazil lacks systematic tactical teaching and allows 9-year-old children to directly participate in standard 11-person competitions. It seems to accumulate competition experience, but in fact it is to encourage growth. This approach makes it difficult for young players to truly master the essence of tactics, and what drives all this is the Brazilian youth training system's assessment mechanism oriented towards the championship. In order to maintain a job, youth training coaches have to focus on pursuing short-term results and have no time to patiently polish the players' basic skills and tactical qualities.

2. Disorganized schedule system: Contradictions and conflicts between the dual game system

The dilemma of Brazilian football is not only reflected in the player training level, but the schedule is also chaotic. There is also a national league system and a state league system in China. The conflicts of schedules of the two major systems have occurred frequently in history, making the club's event arrangements difficult. Although the schedule conflicts have eased in recent years, they often collide with international match days, which seriously affects the team's preparations and player status adjustments, and also greatly reduces the stability and professionalism of the Brazilian league.

3. Systematic defects: a comprehensive crisis from clubs to coaches

CEO of Brazil's professional football platform "Global Football", Mendes accurately pointed out the three key points of Brazilian football: the club lacks long-term planning and infrastructure investment, resulting in a lack of youth training facilities and no order to train talents; since Scolari, no Brazilian coach has entered the mainstream European league for 20 years, reflecting the decline in competitiveness of the coaching group, which has dragged down tactical innovation; the lack of a football knowledge learning environment makes it difficult for coaches to acquire cutting-edge concepts and technologies, which limits the development of the entire football ecology. In contrast, although Japan also faces bottlenecks in the internationalization of coaches, it has achieved a significant improvement in coaching level through a complete national coaching training platform and strict assessment system, which undoubtedly sounds the alarm for Brazilian football.

4. Management chaos arises: The vicious cycle of corruption in the Football Association

At the management level, the corruption problem of the Brazilian Football Association is shocking. The nearly five Football Association chairmans are all deeply involved in judicial investigations, from Ricardo Teixeira's bribery and tax evasion, to Jose Marin's transnational corruption, to Marco del Neiro's corruption scandal, Rogerio Cabocro's sexual harassment storm, and until Ednaldo was impeached for illegal administration, the chaos at the top of the Brazilian Football Association has seriously damaged the foundation of the development of the football industry. Frequent personnel changes and trust crises have made it difficult to continue football development policies and reform measures difficult to implement.

5. Economic difficulties intensify: The vicious cycle of league operations

The long-term weak business operations and low management level have caused the Brazilian local league to fall into a fiscal crisis. Being arrears and delaying wages has become the norm, and even Botafogo, who has just won the double championship of the League and the Liberators Cup, has not been spared. Economic difficulties further aggravated the utilitarianization of youth training. In order to survive, the club is eager to build a "quick genius" and sell it at a high price; at the same time, salary problems seriously undermine players' morale, the young generation's enthusiasm for football gradually fades, and the future of Brazilian football is becoming increasingly bleak.

6. The dilemma of the leader: Neymar's embarrassing situation

As the core figure of the Brazilian team for many years, Neymar's status has been controversial. Despite being respected in the team, frequent injuries have caused him to miss key events, and Brazil has instead performed well in the 2019 Copa America when it was absent, which has raised doubts about his ability to lead. Compared with his predecessors Ronaldo and Kaka, Neymar neither won the Golden Globe Award nor led the national team to win the Copa America and World Cup championships. His performance in the national team is difficult to match the high expectations.

7. Where is the way to break the deadlock: Ancelotti's mission and challenges

Since his crushing defeat at Germany in the 2014 World Cup, Brazilian football has fallen into turmoil, and the president of the Football Association and the coach of the national team have been frequently changed. Tactics and policies have been constantly adjusted, but they have never been able to get out of the predicament. Now, Ancelotti is appointed to the urgency of the Brazilians. However, the root cause of Brazil's decline lies in the collapse of the grassroots system, and it is difficult to turn the tide with a famous coach alone. Even if Ancelotti leads the team to win the 2026 World Cup championship, if deep-seated problems such as youth training, management, and economy are not solved, the decline trend of Brazilian football will still be difficult to reverse.

The dilemma of Brazilian football is like a mirror, which not only reflects its own problems, but also provides profound inspiration for the development of football in other countries. How to fundamentally reshape the football ecology and achieve sustainable development is a topic that Brazilian football and even the world football world need to think deeply about.