Alonso set to replace Ancelotti at Real Madrid

RTHK

12-05-2025

Alonso set to replace Ancelotti at Real Madrid
Xabi Alonso's contract as Real Madrid boss will run until June 2028. Photo: AFP
Xabi Alonso is set to be appointed as new Real Madrid boss after confirming his exit from Bayer Leverkusen last week, with Carlo Ancelotti poised to leave the club at the end of the season to take charge of the Brazil national team, the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) announced.
The 65-year-old Italian will become Brazil's first foreign coach since 1965.
"The greatest national team in the history of football will now be led by the most successful coach in the world," said the CBF in a statement. "He will lead Brazil until the 2026 World Cup and will coach them in their next two qualifying matches against Ecuador and Paraguay next month."
Ancelotti will be the fourth non-Brazilian to coach Brazil. The last was Argentine Filpo Nunez who was in charge for one game 60 years ago.
Brazil sacked Dorival Junior after a 4-1 thrashing by Argentina in March and are fourth in the South American qualifying table for the tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
"Bringing Carlo Ancelotti to lead Brazil is more than a strategic move – it's a statement to the world that we are determined to regain the top spot on the podium," said CBF president Ednaldo Rodrigues.
"He's the greatest coach in history and now he's in charge of the greatest team on the planet," he added. "Together, we will write glorious new chapters for Brazilian football."
Record five-time World Cup winners Brazil last won the trophy in 2002, enduring more than two decades of disappointment since then.
Rodrigues had tried to lure Ancelotti to Brazil two years ago after Tite stood down as coach following a quarter-final exit at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
That bid fell apart in December 2023 when Ancelotti extended his contract with Madrid, forcing Brazil to turn to Dorival after the team struggled under Fernando Diniz in his brief spell at the helm.
Eighteen months on from Dorival's appointment, Ancelotti leaves Madrid with a year left on his contract as one of the club's most successful managers, winning 15 trophies across two spells with Los Blancos, including a La Liga and Champions League double last season.
In his first spell at Real Madrid he led them to La Decima in 2014 – their 10th Champions League triumph.
He has won the competition three times with Los Blancos. After being sacked in 2015 he returned six years later when Zinedine Zidane resigned to lift the trophy again in 2022 and 2024.
Ancelotti has also led Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich among other teams, including AC Milan with whom he won the Champions League twice as a coach in 2003 and 2007.
The Italian is the coach who has won the European Cup most often, triumphing on five occasions – two more than Zidane, Pep Guardiola and Bob Paisley.
At Real Madrid, Ancelotti has coached Brazil stars Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo Goes and Eder Militao, as well as teenage talent Endrick.
The coach will leave Madrid on May 25 after the club's final La Liga match of the season, against Real Sociedad.
Madrid are set to finish the season empty-handed after losing the Clasico at Barcelona on Sunday to fall seven points behind their league leading arch-rivals.
Ancelotti will oversee Madrid's home game against Mallorca on Wednesday and the trip to Sevilla on May 18, departing before the Club World Cup this summer in the US.
The coach has won league titles in the five major European leagues, in Spain, England, Italy, Germany and France across a 30-year managerial career.
Spanish media reported Monday that Leverkusen coach Alonso is set to take over at Real Madrid on June 1, ahead of the Club World Cup.
Madrid's first match is against Saudi side Al Hilal in Miami on June 18. (AFP)