Brazil Denies Contacting Guardiola For National Team Job

The president of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) has denied making contact with Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola over the men’s national team role.

Brazil are fourth in the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying standings having lost four of their 10 games, with existing head coach Dorival Júnior taking over from Fernando Diniz in January 2024.

“Although he is one of the greatest coaches in the world, there was no involvement from the CBF to make any contact,” Ednaldo Rodrigues, CBF president, said to ESPN Brasil.

“We’ve been working with the coaching staff led by Dorival Júnior and we’re satisfied. Yes [Dorival continues], the point is that he has a contract, the CBF has until 2026, he goes until the World Cup … It’s up to him.”

Sources have told ESPN that CBF intermediaries have in the past sought information about Guardiola’s availability, the most recent contact being made in 2022, long before Dorival Júnior was chosen.

Guardiola’s future is up in the air as his contract with Man City expires at the end of the season.

He has led the club to four Premier League titles in a row and six of the last seven, as well as winning a Champions League in the 2022-23 season.

In October Guardiola told a news conference that he had yet to make a decision on his future while expressing sadness over the departure of City’s football director Txiki Begiristain.

Brazil take on Venezuela and Uruguay in the upcoming international break. The top six teams in the CONMEBOL standings qualify automatically for the 2026 World Cup, with the seventh-placed nation entering an inter-continental playoff.