The Brazil national football team is managed by the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) and represents Brazil in international football competitions. They are the most successful national football team in the history of the World Cup, with five championships (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002). A common quip about football is: "The English invented it, the Brazilians perfected it." Currently ranked number four by FIFA, Brazil is consistently among the strongest football nations in the world and is the only team to have played in every World Cup.

History

Early history

The first match of the Brazil national football team is generally considered to be a 1914 match between a Rio and São Paulo select team and the English club Exeter City F.C., which the Brazilian team won 2–0. In contrast to future successes, the nation's early appearances were far from brilliant, partly due to internal strife within Brazilian football over professionalism, which rendered the Brazilian Football Confederation unable to field full-strength teams.

In particular, disputes between the São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro state football federations meant that the team would not be composed of players coming from either of the federations. In both the 1930 and 1934 tournaments, Brazil were knocked out at the very first stage. But 1938 was a sign of things to come, as Brazil finished a strong third, with Leonidas da Silva finishing as the top scorer of the tournament.

Brazil hosted the 1950 FIFA World Cup which was the first tournament to be held after World War II. It is the only time Brazil has hosted the tournament to date (not counting the upcoming 2014 tournament). The 1950 tournament was unique in not having a single final, but rather a final round-robin stage of four teams; however, to all intents and purposes the deciding game between Brazil and Uruguay acted as that tournament's "final". The match was hosted at the Maracanã stadium in Rio de Janeiro, watched by 199,854 people, and Brazil only needed a draw to win, but lost the match 2-1 after being 1-0 up; this match has since been known in South America as "Maracanazo". In Brazil it is called "Final Fatídica" ("fateful final").

For the 1954 FIFA World Cup, in Switzerland, the Brazilian team was almost completely renovated, so as to forget the Maracanã defeat, but still had a group of good players, including Tomas Von Rilinho, Djalma Santos, and Didi. Brazil didn't go very far though. The quarterfinals saw the favorites Hungary beat Brazil 4-2 in one of the ugliest matches in football history, which would become infamous as the Battle of Berne.

The Golden Era and Pelé (1958 to 1970)

Brazil's coach, Vicente Feola, imposed strict rules on the squad for the 1958 FIFA World Cup, held in Sweden. The players were given a list of forty things that they were not allowed to do, including wearing hats or umbrellas, smoking while wearing official clothing and talking to the press outside of allocated times. They were the only team to bring a psychologist (because the memories of 1951 still affected some players) or a dentist (for, because of their humble origins, many players had dental problems, which caused infections and also had negative impact on performance) with them, and had sent a representative to Europe to watch the qualifying matches a year before the tournament began.

Brazil were drawn in the toughest group, with England, the USSR and Austria. They beat Austria 3–0 in their first match, then drew 0–0 with England. The Brazilians had been worried about their match with the USSR who had exceptional fitness and were one of the favourites to win the tournament; their strategy was to take risks at the beginning of the match to try and score an early goal. Before the match, the leaders of the team, Bellini, Nílton Santos, and Didi, spoke to coach Vicente Feola and persuaded him to make three substitutions which were crucial for Brazil to defeat the Soviets and win the Cup: Zito, Garrincha, and Pelé would start playing against the USSR. From the kick off, they passed the ball to Garrincha who beat three players before hitting the post with a shot. They kept up the pressure relentlessly, and after three minutes which were later described as "the greatest three minutes in the history of football", Vavá gave Brazil the lead. They won the match 2–0. Pelé scored the only goal of their quarter-final match against Wales, and they beat France 5–2 in the semi-final. Brazil beat the hosts Sweden, in the final 5-2, winning their first World Cup and becoming the first nation to win a World Cup title outside of its own continent. A celebrated fact was that Feola would sometimes take naps during training sessions and would sometimes close his eyes during matches, giving the impression that he was asleep. Because of this, Didi was sometimes said to be the real coach of the team, as he commanded the mid-field.

In the 1962 FIFA World Cup, Brazil got its second title with Garrincha as the star player; a mantle and responsibility bestowed upon him after regular talisman, Pelé, was injured during the first group match against Mexico and unable to play for the rest of the tournament.

In the 1966 FIFA World Cup, the preparation of the team was affected by political influences. All the major Brazilian clubs wanted their players included in the Brazilian team, to give them more exposure. In the final months of preparation, the coach Vicente Feola was working with 46 players, of which only 22 would go to England; this caused lots of internal dispute and psychological pressure. The result was that, in 1966, Brazil had their worst performance in all World Cups. Of course, another perhaps bigger issue, was that Pelé (who may have been at the height of his career) was chopped at seemingly every opportunity in the group matches.

Brazil won its third World Cup in Mexico in the 1970 FIFA World Cup. Brazil fielded what has been considered to be the best football squad ever, led by Pelé in his last World Cup final, captain Carlos Alberto, Jairzinho, Tostão, Gérson and Rivelino. After winning the Jules Rimet Trophy for the third time Brazil were allowed to keep it for good.

1974–1990

After the international retirement of Pelé and other stars, Brazil were not able to overcome Netherlands' Total Football and could not defend its title in the 1974 FIFA World Cup, finishing in fourth place.

The 1978 FIFA World Cup was notoriously controversial. In the second group stage Brazil were competing with tournament hosts Argentina for top spot and a place in the Finals. In their last group match, Brazil defeated Poland 3-1 to go top of the group with a goal difference of +5. Argentina were only on a goal difference of +2, but in their last group match, they managed to defeat Peru 6-0 and thus qualify for the final. Brazil were forced to settle for the third place match, where they defeated Italy 2-1.

In the 1982 FIFA World Cup, the tournament favorites Brazil easily moved through the early part of the draw, but a 3–2 defeat to Italy, in one of the classic games in finals history, eliminated them from the tournament. Paolo Rossi scored all three of Italy's goals. The seleção was defeated in the match they still refer to as the "Sarrias Disaster", a reference to the stadium's name, and Telê would be much blamed for using an attacking system while a 2-2 draw was enough. The 1982 squad, with players like Sócrates, Zico and Falcão, is remembered as one of the greatest teams to be eliminated from the World Cup. After Brazil's quarter-final defeat in the 2006 World Cup, captain Cafu compared his squad to the 1982 team.

In 1986, Telê and several players of 1982 returned to play in the World Cup hosted by Mexico. The players were older but still capable of an enchanting performance. They were troubled, however, by an injury Zico picked up before the World Cup. Incessant questions about whether and when he could play undoubtedly had some negative effect on the team. Brazil met France in the quarter-finals and the match is considered an absolute classic of "total football". Neither side deserved to lose but when Zico finally came on in the second half (with the score 1-1), and Brazil were awarded a penalty late in the game, Brazil seemed set to win. But Zico, the hero of a whole generation of Brazilian football fans, missed the penalty - and after a goalless but thoroughly exciting extra time it all came down to a penalty shoot out. There Zico managed to score from his penalty but Júlio César da Silva and Sócrates missed, and Brazil was out. Memories of the afternoon at Sarria's came back to haunt the crowd.

In the 1990 FIFA World Cup, Brazil was coached by Sebastião Lazaroni, who was hardly known before the Cup and became even more anonymous afterwards. With a defensive scheme, whose main symbol was mid-fielder Dunga, and three full-backs, the team lacked creativity but made it to the second round. Against a weaker Argentinian side, the Brazilians applied heavy pressure and had numerous chances to score, but it was Claudio Caniggia who managed to find Brazil's net and eliminate them.

2002–2005

On June 29, 2005 Brazil won the Confederations Cup for the second time with an emphatic 4-1 victory over arch-rivals Argentina in Frankfurt, Germany. They also won another championship, the 2004 Copa América in which Brazil defeated Argentina in a penalty shootout. Argentina had defeated Peru in the quarterfinals, and Colombia in the semifinals. In the 2002 World Cup, Brazil made it to the final to face the powerful German squad. The Brazilian striker Ronaldo scored two goals in the final, leaving Germany in the dust, as the experienced Brazilian captain Cafú lift the World Cup for Brazil a fifth time.

World Cup 2006

Entering the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, Brazil were seen as heavy favorites to repeat their success at the previous cup. Brazil beat Croatia 1-0, Australia 2-0, Japan 4-1, the first two being hard-fought matches, to come out at the top of their group.

During the second round, they defeated Ghana 3-0. However, Brazil was eliminated in the quarterfinals against France by a score of 1-0 when Thierry Henry scored the winning goal. France was led by a rejuvenated Zinedine Zidane and by a strong defense which kept the Brazilian strikers under check for the duration of the game. Brazil were shut out, attempting just one shot at French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez. The game was also notable for being the first time that the Brazil team had been shut out in consecutive matches against a particular team. France now has a 2-1-1 all-time record against Brazil in World Cup play.

After the result of 2006, the team was criticized by many Brazilians. Some, such as Pelé, blamed coach Parreira and Ronaldinho for the team's early elimination. The night after Brazil's defeat, vandals burned and destroyed a 7-meter tall fiberglass and resin statue of Ronaldinho in the Brazilian city of Chapecó, which had been erected in 2004 to celebrate Ronaldinho's first election as FIFA World Player of the Year. Roberto Carlos and Juninho Pernambucano each announced their retirement from the team and Juninho asserted that it was time for the players over 30 to retire from the team. Cafu, the Brazilian captain, made an infamous comparison between the team of 2006 and the team at 1982 World Cup, one that is remembered as one of the greatest teams that lost a World Cup. Two days after the loss, Ronaldinho and Adriano partied through the night in Barcelona, increasing the feeling of the Brazilians that they were betrayed by their national team. This reaction contrasted with other players such as Rogerio Ceni, who was ashamed of the game and said "some defeats are marked by struggle, but we lost in an infelicitous way, that wasn't what we had hoped for", and Zé Roberto, who cried and said that "the unity that we had outside the pitch, was lacking inside it". On July 19, Parreira resigned as the team coach.

After the 2006 World Cup

1994 World Cup champion Dunga was hired as Brazil's new team coach on July 24. His first match in charge was against Norway which was played in Oslo on August 16, ended in a 1-1 draw. His second match was held against arch rivals Argentina on September 3 in Arsenal F.C.'s new Emirates Stadium in London, in which Brazil defeated Argentina by a 3-0 scoreline. On 5 September they defeated Wales 2-0 at Tottenham Hotspur F.C.'s White Hart Lane ground. They later defeated Kuwait club, Al-Kuwait 4-0, Ecuador 2-1 and had a 2-1 away win against Switzerland.

Dunga's first defeat as Brazil's coach occurred in February 2007 in a friendly match against Portugal, which is coached by former Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari. In March 2007, Brazil bounced back from their first defeat under Dunga with wins in friendly matches against Chile (4-0) and Ghana (1-0) in Sweden.

Unlike Parreira, Dunga has focused on the task of deemphasizing all players and treating them as equals. He did not just look for players in popular clubs such as AC Milan, Barcelona, Real Madrid, etc., but looked at the whole scope of Europe, finding individual talents such as Daniel Carvalho, Vagner Love and Dudu Cearense of Russian club CSKA Moscow and also Elano of Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk, currently of Manchester City. Of the former Magic Quartet, Ronaldinho and Kaká were the only players who had a regular place in the Brazil squad. Adriano was called back in the squad for a friendly against Portugal in February 2007 which Brazil lost 0-2. Dunga is yet to select the last member of the Magic Quartet, Ronaldo.

2007 Copa America

Dunga took the Brazilians to Venezuela, for the 2007 Copa America. They were placed in a group with Mexico, Ecuador, and Chile. In Group B, Brazil surprisingly lost to Mexico 2-0, then bounced back with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Chile, and won 1-0 against Ecuador. They advanced to the quarter-finals, where they defeated Chile again 6-1. The Semi-Final was against Uruguay, and the game ended 2-2, and Brazil won 5-4 on penalties. Their opponent in the final was Argentina. Brazil and Argentina met in the finals, and Argentina were heavy favourites. But in the 4th minute of the final, Julio Baptista,scored, surprising the Argentinian team. Then in the 45th Minute, defender Roberto Ayala scored an own goal. The first half ended 2-0, and later in the 69th minute, Daniel Alves received the ball from Vagner Love's cross, shooting it into the side of the net and making it 3-0.

Results under coach Dunga

Date	Opposition	Result	Score	Scorers For	Scorers Against	Competition
August 16, 2006		D	1-1	D. Carvalho	M. Gamst Pedersen	International Friendly
September 3, 2006		W	3-0	Elano (2), Kaká	-	International Friendly
September 5, 2006		W	2-0	Marcelo, V. Love	-	International Friendly
October 7, 2006	Al Kuwait	W	4-0	R. Sóbis, Robinho, D. Carvalho, Kaká	-	International Friendly (unofficial match)
October 10, 2006		W	2-1	Fred, Kaká	F. Borja	International Friendly
November 15, 2006		W	2-1	Luisão, Kaká	Maicon (own goal)	International Friendly
February 6, 2007		L	0-2	-	Simão, R. Carvalho	International Friendly
March 24, 2007		W	4-0	Ronaldinho (2), Kaká, Juan	-	International Friendly
March 27, 2007		W	1-0	V. Love	-	International Friendly
June 1, 2007		D	1-1	Diego	J. Terry	International Friendly
June 5, 2007		D	0-0	-	-	International Friendly
June 27, 2007		L	0-2	-	N. Castillo, R. Morales	Copa América
July 1, 2007		W	3-0	Robinho (3)	-	Copa América
July 4, 2007		W	1-0	Robinho	-	Copa América
July 7, 2007		W	6-1	Juan, J Baptista, Robinho (2), Josué, V. Love	H. Suazo	Copa América
July 10, 2007		W	2-2 (5-4)*	Maicon, J Baptista	D. Forlán, S. Abreu	Copa América
July 15, 2007		W	3-0	J. Baptista, R. Ayala (own goal), D. Alves	-	Copa América
August 22, 2007		W	2-0	Maicon, Ronaldinho	-	International Friendly
September 9, 2007		W	4-2	O. Onyewu (own goal), Lúcio, Ronaldinho, Elano	C. Bocanegra, C. Dempsey	International Friendly
September 12, 2007		W	3-1	Kléber, Kaká, Afonso Alves	J.C. Cacho	International Friendly
October 14, 2007		D	0-0	-	-	World Cup Qualifying
October 17, 2007		W	5-0	V. Love, Ronaldinho, Kaká (2), Elano	-	World Cup Qualifying
November 18, 2007		D	1-1	Kaká	Vargas	World Cup Qualifying
November 21, 2007		W	2-1	Luís Fabiano (2)	S. Abreu	World Cup Qualifying
February 6, 2008	Ireland	W	1-0	Robinho	-	International Friendly
March 26, 2008	Sweden	W	1-0	Alexandre Pato	-	International Friendly
May 31, 2008	Canada	W	3-2	Diego, Luis Fabiano, Robinho	R. Friend, J. Guzman	International Friendly
June 6, 2008	Venezuela	L	0-2	-	Giancarlo Maldonado, Ronald Vargas	International Friendly
June 14, 2008	Paraguay	L	0-2	-	Roque Santacruz, Salvador Cabanas	World Cup Qualifying
June 18, 2008	Argentina	D	0-0		-	World Cup Qualifying

*Penalty Shootouts

Nickname

The Brazilian national team has many nicknames and are known in different parts of the world by different nicknames. The most common name used to refer to them, especially in Brazil, is A Seleção, which literally means the selection. Brazilians call any team from any country or sport a seleção and because of this it has become common for the national team to be referred to as the Seleção Brasileira or to more specifically refer to it, the Seleção Brasileira de Futebol. Although Brazilian media have popularized Seleção, other nicknames for them in Brazil include Canarinho, meaning Little Canary, a phrase that was popularized by the late cartoonist Fernando Pieruccetti during the 1950 World Cup. Other names like Amarelinha, Little Yellow, Verde-amarelo, Green-Yellow, Pentacampeão, Five-time Champions and Esquadrão de Ouro (the Golden Squad), among others. It can also be noted that American and English media outlets have referred to Brazil as the Auriverde, coming from the Portuguese words verde and amarela (or dourada) which mean green and yellow (or gold).

Colours

Brazil's first team colours were white with blue collars, but following defeat in the Maracanã at the 1950 World Cup, the colours were criticised for lacking patriotism. With permission from the Brazilian Sports Confederation, the newspaper Correio da Manhã held a competition to design a kit incorporating the four colours of the Brazilian flag. The winning design was a yellow jersey with green trim and blue shorts with white trim drawn by Aldyr Garcia Schlee, a nineteen year old from Pelotas. The new colours were first used in March 1954 in a match against Chile, and have been used ever since.

The use of blue as the away kit colour dates from the 1958 World Cup final. Brazil's opponents were Sweden, who also wear yellow, and as the home team Sweden had first choice of colours. Brazil, who travelled with no spare kit, hurriedly purchased a set of blue shirts and sewed on emblems cut from their yellow shirts.

Kit evolution

Competitive record

World Cup record
Year	Round	Position	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1930	Round 1	6/13	2	1	0	1	5	2
1934	Round 1	14/16	1	0	0	1	1	3
1938	Third Place	3/15	5	3	1	1	14	11
1950	Final	2/13	6	4	1	1	22	6
1954	Quarter-finals	5/16	3	1	1	1	8	5
1958	Champions	1/16	6	5	1	0	16	4
1962	Champions	1/16	6	5	1	0	14	5
1966	Round 1	11/16	3	1	0	2	4	6
1970	Champions	1/16	6	6	0	0	19	7
1974	Semi-finals	4/16	7	3	2	2	6	4
1978	Third Place	3/16	7	4	3	0	10	3
1982	Group Round 2	5/24	5	4	0	1	15	6
1986	Quarter-finals	5/24	5	4	1	0	10	1
1990	Round 2	9/24	4	3	0	1	4	2
1994	Champions	1/24	7	5	2	0	11	3
1998	Final	2/32	7	4	1	2	14	10
2002	Champions	1/32	7	7	0	0	18	4
2006	Quarter-finals	5/32	5	4	0	1	10	2
Total	18/18	5 Titles	92	64	*14	14	201	84