Former USWNT boss Pia Sundhage has been revealed as the new head coach of Brazil.
The 59-year-old left her role as her native Sweden’s head coach back in 2017, following the Blagult’s quarter-final exit at the 2017 Euros.
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She stayed in a role with the Swedish FA, leading their under-17 women’s side, before today accepting the position as Brazil’s new coach.
Sundhage becomes just the second female coach to take on the job, which became available after the departure of Vadao earlier this week.
The 62-year-old was in his second spell as head coach of the team, having been reappointed in controversial circumstances back in September 2017.
But his experience failed to inspire, with the team going into the Women's World Cup this summer having lost nine consecutive games, before crashing out in the last 16.
"I'm very happy for this opportunity,” Sundhage told the Swedish FA’s website.
“Brazil is a fantastic football country, full of talented players whom I look forward to getting to know and work with.
“The national team is in an exciting phase right now - you need, at least to some extent, a change of generation, while you have qualified for the Olympics next year.
“It feels sad, of course [to leave Sweden], I have enjoyed the [under-17] national team incredibly well.
“But this opportunity was simply too inspiring and interesting to be able to resist.”
Sundhage arrives with plenty of experience and plenty of success, too.
Her most decorated role unsurprisingly came while in charge of the USA, with whom she won two Olympic gold medals, in 2008 and 2012, as well as reaching the final of the 2011 World Cup, where they lost to Japan.
She stepped down from that role in September 2012, wishing to return to her homeland, and would sign a four-year contract to become Sweden’s head coach upon doing so.
At the 2016 Olympics, Sundhage recorded a shock defeat over the USA in the quarter-finals of the competition, as Sweden collected the silver medal.
That tournament will be her first competitive assignment as the new Brazil coach, and so her past success bodes well for her new team.
The Selecao should head to Tokyo 2020 with much less negativity around them too, which was not the case for this year’s World Cup.
Vadao’s re-appointment followed the sacking of the team’s first ever female coach, Emily Lima, who was relieved of her duties after just 13 games in charge.
Her dismissal prompted five players to withdraw themselves from selection for the national team, while an open letter criticising the Brazilian federation was published and signed by eight players, including stars such as Cristiane and Formiga.
“We, the players, have invested years of our own lives and all of our energy to build this team and this sport to its strength today,” it said.
“Yet we, and almost all other Brazilian women, are excluded from the leadership and decision-making for our own team and our own sport.”
With that situation certainly not long forgotten, Sundhage’s arrival is sure to appease many for reasons that go beyond her past successes.
