BRAZIL ★★★★★

Brazil is the only national team to have played in all 23 World Cups, and the all-time leader in titles with five (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002). At the 2026 tournament, Brazil plays in Group C against Morocco, Haiti, and Scotland. Head coach Carlo Ancelotti is the first foreign manager since 1965; the key players are Vinícius Júnior, Raphinha, and Bruno Guimarães.

The 1950 World Cup final was hosted in Brazil. At the Maracanã in front of 200,000 spectators, Uruguay beat the hosts 2:1 — the day became known as the "Maracanaço," a national trauma. Eight years later in Sweden, a 17-year-old Pelé scored a semifinal hat-trick and a brace in the final — Brazil lifted its first trophy. The Maracanaço scar reopened 64 years later: at the 2014 home tournament, Brazil lost the semifinal to Germany 1:7 — a new trauma in the same script.

Brazil qualified for 2026 with difficulty — for the first time in half a century, the South American qualifying campaign saw six defeats. Hiring Ancelotti in 2024 was an attempt to reset the team. In Group C the main threat is Morocco, the bronze semifinalists from Qatar-2022. Brazil opens in Atlanta and Boston; the playoff path could lead to Miami and Los Angeles. A potential meeting with Argentina is only possible in the final.

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