Brazil head coach Dorival Junior has predicted that his team will reach the FIFA World Cup final in 2026.
Junior made the claim during his pre-match press conference ahead of his side’s game against Paraguay.
“We will be in the 2026 World Cup final,” via Fabrizio Romano. “We will be finalists. You can film me while I’m saying this. I have no doubts. We will be there.”
Junior took over the national team coaching duties in January 2024 with his first assignment being the Copa America.
The Selecao started impressively but crashed out of the tournament after losing to Uruguay in the quarter-final on penalties.
Brazil, who have won the World Cup five times, resumed their qualifying campaign under Junior with a 1-0 win over Ecuador on Saturday, September 7.
Real Madrid forward Rodrygo scored the only goal of the match to keep their qualification hopes alive.
The last time Brazil reached the World Cup final was in 2002 co-hosted by South Korea and Japan.
A brace from legendary striker Ronaldo earned Brazil a 2-0 win against Germany in the final.
They got to the quarter-finals at the 2006 and 2010 World Cups and went all the way to the semi-finals in 2014 on home soil before losing 7-1 to Germany.
In 2018 and 2022 they made it to the quarter-finals before losing to Belgium and Croatia respectively.
