When Brazil Stopped Being Brazil

Why appointing Michael O'Leary to run Apple feels a lot like appointing Carlo Ancelotti to manage Brazil.

As we head into the business end of the World Cup, Brazil's exit at the Round of 16 has really got me thinking. Not because they didn't make it to the quarterfinals, but because it made me think about how far Brazil have drifted from their footballing DNA.

My first football memory goes back to the summer of 1994.

I was on holidays in Donegal with my family during USA '94, staying halfway up Malin Head, just a few miles from where Packie Bonner's home was. I was 10 years old and, like most kids around the country, completely caught up in USA 94 and Big Jacks Army.

Jack Charlton was a real leader. A World Cup winner in '66, a tough Geordie and someone who knew exactly what he wanted his Ireland team to look like.

It wasn't complicated. Keep it simple. Get it forward. Win the second ball. Put 'em under pressure.

It wasn't fancy and it certainly wasn't everyone's idea of football. Nobody was talking about possession stats or playing out from the back. It was basic. It played to Ireland's strengths and it suited Jack perfectly.

The team reflected the manager.

Ireland qualified for Euro '88, Italia '90 and USA '94, giving us one of the greatest periods in Irish football history.

Watching Brazil this week got me thinking about that.

Brazil and the World Cup go hand in hand. When you think of Brazil, you think of yellow shirts, flair, freedom and some of the greatest footballers the game has ever seen. Pelé, Zico, Romário, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaká...

They didn't just win World Cups, they lit them up. They built the blueprint for how football should be played... unless you're Dutch, of course. For football fans, Brazil were the main event.

This tournaments Brazil squad isn't short of talent. Vinícius Júnior, Endrick, Rodrygo, Raphinha, Bruno Guimarães, Matheus Cunha... there is more than enough quality there to progress deep into latter stages.

To me, this Brazil team feels very un-Brazilian. Why?

I don't think it's about talent. I think it's about identity.

Which brings me to Carlo Ancelotti.

On paper, his appointment in May 2025 made perfect sense. One of the greatest managers football has ever seen taking charge of the most successful nation in World Cup history. The Brazilian FA described it as "the coming together of two icons."

But there was one thing that stood out. Ancelotti became the first non-Brazilian permanent manager of the Brazil national team.

That might not matter to some people. I think it matters a lot. Not because I believe a Brazilian passport automatically makes someone a better football manager. Far from it.

But Brazil isn't just another football team. It's a footballing identity based around freedom, creativity and expression.

Ancelotti, on the other hand, built his career and teams differently. His tactics are defined by organisation, discipline and balance. It's exactly why he's one of the greatest managers of all time.

The only problem? That doesn't exactly sound like Brazilian football.

Brazilian football has always been about freedom, improvisation and expression. Ancelotti's teams have always been built on organisation, discipline and balance. There's nothing wrong with either philosophy.

But when you inherit an iconic organisation, maybe the job isn't to rewrite its DNA. Maybe it's to understand it first.

If Brazilian football is samba, improvisation and expression, then Ancelotti's philosophy feels like the antithesis of Brazilian flair.

Hiring Carlo Ancelotti to manage Brazil is a bit like if Apple hired Michael O'Leary as CEO.

Would Michael O'Leary be capable? Absolutely. Would he run a hugely successful organisation? Probably.

But would Apple still feel like Apple? Probably not.

Often the best leader isn't the right leader. Sometimes the leader has to reflect the identity of the organisation.

Because if the team no longer reflects the manager, and the manager doesn't reflect the culture, eventually the organisation stops looking like itself.

The same thing happens in business all the time.

Companies recruit CEOs with the best CVs. They copy the market leader. They introduce new processes because they worked somewhere else. Sometimes those decisions make the organisation better. But sometimes they slowly dilute away the very thing that made the organisation stand out and be great in the first place.

Every organisation has a DNA.

It's not written in a strategy plan or printed around the office canteen. It's the way the people think. The way decisions get made. The way customers experience the business. It's what people associate with an organisation.

In strategic management, this is the Resource-Based View. It explains that sustainable competitive advantage doesn't come solely from the market you compete in or the products you sell. It comes from the unique capabilities, culture, knowledge and ways of working that competitors can't easily replicate. In other words, it comes from your DNA.

Every organisation has to evolve and change.

Organisations that evolve with success are the ones that don't lose what made them great in the first place. They adapt to change while protecting the capabilities and identity that make them different.

Maybe that's the lesson from Brazil's World Cup. The challenge isn't simply to change but knowing what should never change.

Blog by Padraig O'Donnell