5 days Ago By [email protected] (Felix Keith)
Ronaldo is plotting to take over the Brazilian Football Confederation – and wants to hire Pep Guardiola as the team’s next manager. The legendary striker is gearing up to run for the CBF presidency in the upcoming elections, according to reports in Brazil and Spain. As the owner of Spanish side Real Valladolid, he has had a taste of football governance and wants to help shape the future of the Selecao as his next challenge.
The 48-year-old would need to gain support from state federations and clubs in his home country, but they might well be persuaded by the key part of his manifesto: to hire Guardiola. Ronaldo played alongside Guardiola during his one season at Barcelona in 1996/97 and believes he could deliver a huge coup by tempting him to take a first step into international management. Guardiola’s contract with Manchester City is set to expire at the end of the season and he is yet to decide whether he will extend it.
The 53-year-old has been with City since 2016 – longer than he spent at Barca or Bayern Munich – and the departure of his close friend Txiki Begiristain as City’s director of football and being courted for the England job sparked rumours he could call time on his spell soon. If he did step down at the end of the 2024/25 season, Guardiola could choose to take some time away from the game, like Jurgen Klopp did after leaving Liverpool . However, Mirror Football reported in October that Guardiola has long had his eye on the Brazil job.
Brazil have struggled for consistency in recent years, with Dorival Junior currently in charge, having been appointed at the start of 2024 after interim boss Fernando Diniz was sacked. The team are fourth in South American World Cup qualifying, behind Argentina, Uruguay and Colombia , having won just five of their 11 matches. Ronaldo believes that landing a manager of the calibre of Guardiola is what is needed to turn around the team’s fortunes.
He will challenge Ednaldo Rodrigues as the president of CBF, despite Rodrigues successfully managing to lobby to increase the number of terms a president can serve earlier this month. Guardiola’s biographer Guillem Balague claimed last month that Guardiola was likely to step down at City at the end of the season due to personal reasons. He pointed to Guardiola’s back surgery last year and the fact he doesn’t see his family regularly as the reasons behind that feeling.
The man himself has refused to give anything away. “I will not delay any action knowing that I’m creating a problem for the club,” he said recently. “If I feel I’m a problem for the club right now I will take a decision as quick as possible.
But I don’t have that feeling, they understand the reasons I have.” Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners.
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