Carlo Ancelotti’s son Davide on Brazil’s World Cup challenges: ‘Not an easy job’

At the end of this month, Carlo Ancelotti will have to finalize the 26-man roster that will compete at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. With that deadline approaching, his son and assistant Davide opened up about the challenges facing Brazil.

“If you analyse the actual situation of Brazil, there are really good defenders, some of the best in the world, really good transition players – the wingers, the 10s, and the strikers too,” Davide Ancelotti said in a recent interview with BBC Sport.

“This gives you an idea of what kind of football you can play, but then there is the culture of the nation,” the assistant added, suggesting that not only the players’ attributes and the coach’s opinions matter when defining a national team’s style of play.

“You need to have a clear identity but to adapt. You have to be able to balance your ideas with the characteristics of the players and then the identity of the nation,” Davide explained. “It’s not an easy job… And then you have to win the World Cup as well!”

This perhaps represents the biggest challenge Carlo Ancelotti has faced since taking over Brazil in the summer of 2025. At that time, the team were struggling in the World Cup qualifiers—something the Italian coach quickly managed to fix. However, in terms of on-field performances, they still appear to have room for improvement.

Brazil have a well-defined style

Few national teams in the world have as rich a tradition as Brazil. The great stars who have represented the national team since the 1950s helped shape the style fans expect to see, but that identity has not been easy to maintain in recent years.

Davide Ancelotti described that style as “to play attacking football, winning football, and to play with a smile. You have to consider that.” He also spoke about the fans’ expectations: “Brazilian people love football, they like to joga bonito (play beautifully), but they like to win a lot.”

Brazil’s challenges in recent decades

South Korea – Japan 2002 was Brazil’s most recent World Cup title. That squad perfectly embodied the country’s style, featuring world-class stars such as Ronaldo Nazario, Ronaldinho, Rivaldo, Kaka, Cafu, and Roberto Carlos. Much of that generation also competed at Germany 2006, where they were eliminated by France in the quarterfinals.

Since then, Brazil have struggled to maintain that identity—a challenge Carlo Ancelotti continues to face today. That attacking, seemingly carefree style has not delivered results in subsequent World Cups, where they have fallen short of reaching the final.

Perhaps the closest examples of Brazil’s traditional style came under coach Tite at Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022, although they were eliminated in the quarterfinals on both occasions. Now, Ancelotti faces the challenge of changing that narrative and leading Brazil deep into a World Cup once again.