​Brazil’s football system is in trouble, with a lack of transparency and accountability in its administration that mirrors the national team’s on-pitch struggles, activist filmmaker and Pele’s eldest daughter, Kely Nascimento, told Reuters in an interview. “Brazilian football is broken. Whether it’s corruption or other issues, it’s like a closed, very incestuous ecosystem where no one can see inside, and everyone knows why it isn’t delivering, yet no one can fix it,” Nascimento said. She argued that Brazil’s rich pool of talent continues to produce exceptional players, but their difficulties on the world stage reveal deeper, systemic problems.
Brazil’s hopes were dashed this year when they were eliminated from the World Cup after a 2-1 loss to Norway on Sunday, marking the first time they have not reached the quarter-finals since 1990. Their last World Cup triumph came in 2002, leaving a long drought that has intensified debates about the country’s football governance and development pipelines. Nascimento pointed to her late father’s longstanding concerns about the state of the sport in Brazil and drew a contrast with nations such as France, which she believes have built more effective and resilient systems to sustain success.
Amid the critiques, she noted a glimmer of positive change: the revival of traditional clubs through foreign investment. She highlighted Botafogo’s resurgence under U.S. businessman John Textor as an example of how international involvement can help stabilize and modernize Brazilian clubs. Since taking a controlling stake in Botafogo in 2022, Textor has overseen a steady improvement in the fortunes of the storied Rio de Janeiro club. While there is ongoing debate about his management approach, Nascimento emphasized that the arrangement also brings a level of transparency and accountability that has been missing in some quarters of Brazilian football.
“There’s a lot of criticism about how he’s handling it, but again, there are positives and negatives to everything,” she said. “What he’s bringing is transparency… he’s accountable to a foreign body. To me, that’s a positive development, regardless of the criticisms he faces.” The interview underscored the tension between calls for increased openness and the realities of how Brazil’s football institutions operate.
Nascimento’s remarks also touched on broader consequences for the sport beyond the national team’s performance. She suggested that the health of Brazil’s football ecosystem depends on more than just talent on the pitch; it requires robust governance, clear accountability, and a more transparent administrative culture that can support sustainable development from the amateur level up to the national team. The discussion points to structural reforms as essential steps if Brazil hopes to reclaim its status as a global football powerhouse.
In the wider football landscape, observers continue to weigh Brazil’s future prospects against the backdrop of evolving global competition. While the country remains a footballing giant in terms of talent development and cultural impact, the path to regaining consistent success increasingly hinges on reforms that address governance, transparency, and the alignment of incentives across clubs, federations, and national teams. The conversation around Nascimento’s remarks reflects a broader insistence that the sport’s foundation—its institutions—must become more open, accountable, and capable of steering Brazil back to the pinnacle of international football.