Radical U-turn: Ancelotti rejects Brazil and targets Saudi Arabia

In an unexpected turn of events, the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) put an end to the negotiations with Italian Carlo Ancelotti, Real Madrid's coach, to coach the 'Selecao', as reported on Tuesday by the sports media 'Ge', of the Globo group.

After having reached an agreement in principle, the CBF finally desisted from hiring the award-winning coach “after Real Madrid hindered his release”, according to the information signed by Andre Rizek and Cahe Mota. The favourite for the job is now the Portuguese Jorge Jesus, current coach of Saudi Al-Hilal.

Hours earlier, the same portal assured that the CBF and Ancelotti had reached an agreement for the Italian to sit on the bench of the Brazilian national team as of next June and that they were only waiting for the approval of the 'Merengues' to make it official.

But, according to this information, Real Madrid would not have made it easy, as Carlo has a contract with the Spanish team until 2026, and the parties have not agreed on the payment of the termination clause to free him, according to 'Ge'.

However, media outlets such as 'Marca' point out that the reason for this end of negotiations is that Ancelotti has received a dizzying offer from Saudi football of 50 million euros net per season that has made him back down from his intention to take charge of the five-time world champions. The Brazilian confederation, consulted by 'Agencia EFE', has not yet commented on the matter.

The signing of the coach from Reggiolo was the great desire of the president of the CBF, Ednaldo Rodrigues, since Tite left the position of coach after the World Cup in Qatar 2022.

Since then, Brazil has not been able to achieve stability in the dugout and has had a string of bad results, the last one being a painful 4-1 defeat against Argentina, which cost Dorival Junior his job.

The 'Selecao' is in fourth position in the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers, although their qualification is not in doubt, as they are 6 points behind Venezuela, 7th in the standings and first out of the direct qualification places.