What the Club World Cup tells us about the revival of the Brazilian League Football

The current club World Cup feels as FIFA’s brave attempt to anchor Association Football in the American sporting imagination-on a moment when the country is preparing to keep the men’s world cup together next year.

From the introductions in NBA-style players to referee-ear cameras to teams visiting the White House, the club World Cup has leaned in the US spectacle of the broadcast.

Once a side issue in the football calendar, the tournament is now a worldwide shop window – partly designed to take advantage of the growing US Eslite for Elite European clubs.

But towards the end of the group stage, it is not the usual European powerhouses who run heads. Instead, clubs of another football jar stolen the spotlight.

Fluminen, Botafogo, Palmeiras and Flamengo – all of the Serie A of Brazil – have qualified for the knockout rounds with invalid plates. And they did not continue on the back of easy luminaires.

Flamengo destroyed a shortage of one goal to beat Chelsea 3-1. Botafogo bewildered UEFA Champions League (UCL) winner PSG with a clinical 1-0 win. Fluminense and Palmeiras earned valuable draws against Borussia Dortmund and FC Porto – Teams seasoned in UCL fights.

The road that lies in front of us is steep. Flamengo faces Bayern Munich, while Fluminense Inter Milan accepts in the round of 16. But the Brazilian league will have at least one representative in the quarterfinals after Palmeiras was placed against Botafogo.

Have Brazilian clubs always been so strong? Has the football world, aimed at European teams, overlooking South America?

Brazilian participation in a worldwide club tournament goes a long way back. Vasco da Gama was the first winner of the Tournoi de Paris – the inaugural event that brought European and South American clubs together – in 1957.

Santos, the home of Brazilian icons such as Pele, Zito and Gilmar, won the third and fourth editions of the Intercontinental Cup in 1962 and 1963.

The FIFA Club World Cup – consisting of eight teams – started in 2000, with Corinthians, São Paulo and Internacional who won the first three titles. But since the famous victory of Corinthians over Chelsea in the 2012 edition in Japan, no club has tasted success.

This silence coincided with a period of stagnation for the Campeonato Brasileiro. The competition became a factory line that took young Brazilians for Europe, while trusting in aging stars that return from their stints abroad.

In the past six years, raised investments in the domestic competition clubs have enabled to attract talent from all of South America.

It is therefore no surprise that each of the last six Copa Libertadores titles has been won by a Brazilian club. According to Opta’s 2024 Power Rankings for Global Football Leagues, the Brazilian Serie A is in sixth place – the highest for each competition outside Europe.

Even the four Brazilian teams that have qualified for the knockout phase of the Club World Cup are full of international players from neighboring countries. The Uruguayan trio of Matías Viña, Guillermo Varela and Giorgian de Arascaeta are important components in the arrangement of Flamengo, where the club currently takes first place in the Brazilian league.

Jhon Arias van Colombia has illuminated the right flank for Fluminense, while his countryman Richard Ríos has been a lynchpin in midfield for Palmeiras.

This is the sparkle of the local talent that makes full use of the platform that the Club World Cup offers – an opportunity to attract the attention of scouts and to take the next step to a European movement.

Estevão Willian van Palmeiras, already on his way to Premier League giant Chelsea, has impressed and noticed the performances that the football world had justified and noticed. Botafogo striker Igor Jesus, who scored twice in the group stage, is now reportedly close to a transfer to Nottingham Forest.

Another factor in the revival of Brazilian clubs has been the intake of new coaching ideas from Europe. Portuguese managers Abel Ferreira and Renato Paiva are now in charge of Palmeiras and Botafogo respectively. Ferreira brought experience from Stints in Portugal and Greece, while Paiva had management roles in Argentina and Mexico after supervising the youth teams of Benfica.

At Flamengo, the former Brazil International Filipe Luis-Die spent most of its playing career in Europe under coaches at top level such as Diego Simeone and Jose Mourinho-Spaniard Ivan Palanco to his back room staff. Palanco previously served as an assistant to Miguel Angel Lotina, who coached Luis in Deportivo La Coruna.

However, the strong impressions of Brazilian clubs on this edition of the Club World Cup are dealing with comments.

European parties participate after a debilitating season 2024-25, while Brazilian teams are demonstrable at Peak Fitness, where their domestic campaign started in March.

Another critical factor is climate.

Brazilian clubs are much more acclimatized to the heat and humidity of the North -American summer. Borussia Dortmund, for example, stood opposite Ulsan in Cincinnati in the midst of more than 90 ° F (32.2 ° C) during an afternoon kick-off conditions that are not known for most European teams.

Related: Burning Heat Sparks Revised Scheme Appeals on FIFA Club World Cup 2025

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca noted that the weather in Philadelphia was not conducive to keeping regular training sessions.

Manchester City played two different starting XIs in the first two games. “We will also play new players in the next game, and in the second half. The selection has that in mind.

«In these circumstances we are not ready to play 90 minutes, and during the break we will make replacements,» Pep Guardiola said reporters prior to the game to Juventus.

Despite the rise of Brazilian clubs, that domestic power has not translated into recent success for the Selecao. Brazil struggled due to the qualifications of the World Cup 2026, attracted four and lost five games.

Now, under the leadership of the legendary manager Carlo Ancelotti, the five-fold world champion will hope that the Italian-with his unparalleled Champions League tree-it-all potential of the young, talented crop of Brazil can unlock and end his 24-year waiting time for a different worldwide title.

List of results of Brazilian teams in a group stage:

• Palmeiras 0 – 0 Porto

• Botafogo 2 – 1 Seattle Sounders

• Flamengo 2 – 0 Hope

• Fluminense 0 – 0 Borussia Dortmund

• Palmeiras 2 – 0 Al Ahly SC

• PSG 0 – 1 Botafogo

• Flamengo 3 – 1 Chelsea

• Fluminense 4 – 2 Ulsan HD

• Atletico Madrid 1 – 0 Botafogo

• Inter Miami 2 – 2 Palmeiras

• Lafc 1 – 1 Flamengo

• Mamelodi Sundowns 0 – 0 Fluminense