Brazil’s 92-year-old World Cup record ends after Albania’s loss to Poland in UEFA playoffs

Albania lost 2-1 to Poland on Thursday in the European playoff semifinals, eliminating their chances of qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. This also marks the end of an impressive streak that Brazil had maintained uninterrupted since the tournament’s inaugural edition in 1930.

The 2026 World Cup will be the first in history without a single Brazilian coach. With the national team being led by a foreigner for the first time in a major tournament—Italian Carlo Ancelotti—Albania had represented the last hope, as their coach is former Barcelona player Sylvinho.

However, that chance has now disappeared, and barring a last-minute change among the national teams already qualified, there will be no Brazilian representation among the 48 head coaches competing for the title in North America 2026.

Brazil’s perfect World Cup coaching record

Brazil’s unbroken streak of having at least one Brazilian coach at every World Cup from Uruguay 1930 to Qatar 2022 was largely driven by the performances of their own national team. Brazil is the only country to have competed in all 22 World Cups held over the last 92 years, and in each edition, a Brazilian coach was on the sidelines—usually leading Brazil themselves.

In many editions, there were even more Brazilian coaches. In 1998, for example, there were four: Mario Zagallo led Brazil to the final against France, while Carlos Alberto Parreira managed Saudi Arabia, Paulo Cesar Carpegiani coached Paraguay, and Rene Simoes was in charge of Jamaica.

The same happened in 2006. Carlos Alberto Parreira managed Brazil, while three other Brazilians coached other teams in the tournament: Luiz Felipe Scolari at Portugal, Alexandre Guimaraes at Costa Rica, and Zico at Japan.

How many foreign coaches will lead teams at the 2026 World Cup?

With the final six spots still to be decided in the UEFA and inter-confederation playoffs during the March FIFA break, 42 teams have already qualified to compete this summer in North America.

The split between teams led by native-born coaches and those with foreign managers is currently very close. Twenty of the 42 qualified teams have head coaches born in their own country, including Argentina with Lionel Scaloni and France with Didier Deschamps.

On the other side, 22 national teams will compete with foreign coaches. Notable examples include Brazil with Carlo Ancelotti, England with Thomas Tuchel, and the United States with Mauricio Pochettino.