Why Pele’s daughter thinks Brazilian football is broken
2 min readUpdated: Jul 9, 2026 11:17 PM IST Kely Nascimento, daughter of the legendary Pele, said that Brazil’s footballing system was broken. This came days after the Selecao were shockingly knocked out of the FIFA World Cup Round of 16 vs Norway on Monday. “Brazilian football is broken. Whether it is corruption … it’s like a closed, very incestuous ecosystem where no one can see inside, and everybody knows why it is not working, but nobody can fix it,” Nascimento said in an interview with Reuters. Nascimeto also said the country’s wealth of talent continued to produce top players, but that their struggles on the international stage were symptomatic of deeper structural problems. With the loss to Norway, Brazil failed to reach the quarterfinals for the first time since 1990. They won the last of their record five World Cups in 2002. After the loss, Neymar also indicated that he may have played his last match for Brazil. Sunday’s loss also meant that Brazil’s long wait to win the World Cup continues. In the …


