Read for 2 minutesUpdated: 9 July 2026 11:17 PM IST
Kelly Nascimento, daughter of legend Pele, said Brazil’s football system is broken. This came just days after the Selecao were shockingly kicked out FIFA World Cup Round 16 vs Norway on monday
“Brazilian football is broken. Whether it’s corruption … it’s like a closed, very corrupt ecosystem where nobody can look inside, and everybody knows why it’s not working, but nobody can fix it,” Nascimento said in an interview with Reuters.
Nascimeto also said the country’s talent pool continued to produce top players, but their struggles at the international level were symptomatic of deeper structural problems.
With the loss against Norway, Brazil failed to reach the quarter-finals for the first time since 1990. They won the last of their record five World Cups in 2002. After the defeat, Neymar even hinted that it might be his last game for Brazil.
Sunday’s defeat continues Brazil’s long wait to win the World Cup. In the last five World Cups, Brazil have lost in the quarterfinals four times and reached the semifinals just once — when Thiago Silva’s side lost 1-7 against Germany at the 2014 World Cup. Ancelotti shared that the team needs some young talent and how they can manage in the next World Cup cycle.
“Obviously, everyone is disappointed with what happened. We didn’t have a spectacular World Cup campaign, but we had a good performance. I think we have to move some players. We need some young talent. We need some high-level players in Brazilian football to play for the national team in the future. We will manage that,” Carlotti said. “We will accept this defeat, and we will use the new cycle as fuel to move forward,” Ancelotti told reporters after the defeat.