Brazilian President Lula: Brazil has a coach who can coach the national team. I hope An Shuai leads the team to win the World Cup

May 14th Brazilian President Lula said that the Brazilian national team does not need a foreign coach. Despite this, he expressed his support for the new coach Ancelotti.

Italian Ancelotti became the first non-Brazilian coach to coach the Brazilian national team since 1965 on Monday, hoping to lead the team to achieve brilliant results in next year's World Cup.

"Frankly, I don't object to him being a foreigner...I think Brazil has a coach who can lead the national team." Lula said in an interview with reporters that the video was widely circulated in Brazilian media. As a football enthusiast, Lula has expressed doubts about Ancelotti's appointment in the past, "He has never been the coach of the Italian national team... Why doesn't he solve Italy's problems? Italy is not even qualified to participate in the 2022 World Cup?" Lula said in 2023.

On Tuesday, Lula praised Ancelotti as a "great technical coach" and expressed hope that the Italian "can help Brazil qualify for the World Cup first and then win the championship if possible". Currently, Brazil is ranked fourth in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, which will be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Brazil has 21 points in the 14 games that have been played, trailing Ecuador, Uruguay and Argentina. The top six South American teams will advance to the 2026 World Cup.