Carlo Ancelotti tasked with taking Brazil to the 2026 World Cup

At the end of his run with Real Madrid, Carlo Ancelotti will take the reins of the Brazilian Seleçao. The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) announced in a statement on Monday, May 12, that the Italian coach has been appointed coach of the national team "until the 2026 World Cup." "Bringing Carlo Ancelotti to coach Brazil is more than a strategic move. It's a way of telling the world that we are determined to return to the top step of the podium," said Ednaldo Rodrigues, the president of the federation.

This Monday, neither the main player concerned nor the Madrid club, with which he is under contract until June 30, 2026, publicly reacted to the CBF's announcement. A reversal of the situation cannot be ruled out, but it is more than likely that Carlo Ancelotti will soon leave Real Madrid and will have the future mission of qualifying the crisis-hit Auriverdes for the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

In 2024-2025, Carlo Ancelotti, 65, had a difficult campaign at Real Madrid, marked by the highly anticipated arrival of Kylian Mbappé from PSG and the departure of German midfielder Toni Kroos, Madrid's true master of play. The Whites were coming off a successful season in 2023-2024, in which they achieved a La Liga-Champions League (CL) double. Despite the accumulation of attacking talents – Rodrygo, Vinicius Jr, Mbappé, Bellingham, not to mention the youngsters Güler and Endrick – the coach has, this season, never managed to perfectly integrate these individuals into a cohesive collective, further penalized by the injuries of several key players, including defenders Dani Carvajal, Eder Militao and David Alaba.

Real Madrid are therefore preparing to close a blank season, for the first time since the 2020-2021 season. Eliminated in mid-April by Arsenal in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, with a heavy aggregate score of 5-1, the Madrilenians also fell to FC Barcelona in the final of the Copa del Rey (3-2, after extra time). The last hope of saving the season vanished in the fourth and final clasico of the season – which the Madrilenians lost all – on May 11: the Catalans won 4-3 and took the lead in the Spanish championship, with a seven-point lead and three matches still to play.

Having arrived on the Merengues bench in July 2021, Carlo Ancelotti has nevertheless added to an already impressive list of achievements. In three years, the Italian coach has won La Liga (2022 and 2024), two Spanish Super Cups (2022, 2024), a Copa del Rey (2023) and, above all, two additional Champions Leagues (2022, 2024). These are the second and third continental titles that "Carletto" Ancelotti has given Real Madrid, after a first two-year stint on the Madrid bench, marked by La Decima , the club's tenth Champions League final victory, in 2014.

"Il Mister" is the only coach to have lifted the "cup with the big ears" five times. Before these three triumphs with Real Madrid, the Italian had already lifted the European grail twice with his beloved club, AC Milan. He even has seven Champions Leagues in his trophy cabinet, if we add the two Champions Leagues he won as a Milan player, under the guidance of Arrigo Sacchi, who inspired his tactical work.

His method? Pragmatism and flexibility. The Italian coach adapts to the squad at his disposal as well as to the situations, seeking above all balance and control of the match's tempo, in order to build rapid, set-piece attacks. Carlo Ancelotti knows how to value individuality: his ability to unite the egos of stars has long been highlighted, as has the great freedom he gives his players.

"I think our greatest strength is that he finds a way to let us play with freedom. We're a bit unpredictable. On a human level, he gives us a lot of calm and confidence," says Jude Bellingham about his coach. In May 2022, at the time of Real Madrid's fifteenth European title, Carlo Ancelotti summed up his philosophy thus: "The players are my friends." A phrase in keeping with the portrait painted by Paolo Maldini, his former defender at AC Milan, who saw him as a "nice big bear" , incapable, in his words, of losing his temper.

Ancelotti's future is likely to be shaped on the other side of the Atlantic. Expected to take the reins of the Brazil national team in December 2023, Carlo Ancelotti ultimately extended his contract with Real Madrid after a convincing start to the season, which reassured the Whites' leaders.