Football
ESPN staff 10y

Romario: Brazil must change leaders

Former Brazil star Romario has called for changes to the top leaders of Brazil's Football Confederation top leaders, saying the CBF's president-elect is incapable of making necessary changes.

Romario, who played for Brazil at the 1990 and 1994 World Cups and is now a politician, said Marco Polo del Nero, 73, will do nothing to alter Brazil's fortunes and that "a worse humiliation than the massacre at the Mineirao" -- Brazil's embarrassing 7-1 semifinal defeat to Germany this month -- awaits without action.

"Marco Polo del Nero is to lead the CBF for the next four years. Do you think this man is capable of overseeing change? I am sure he isn't," Romario told fellow law-makers.

Del Nero will take over next year, replacing 82-year-old Jose Maria Marin, but Romario said they both leaders belong to the same "gang."

"This obscure and clandestine election needs to be annulled," Romario said. "Brazilian football doesn't deserve to be run by a gang which already showed itself incompetent ... which rakes in money and does with it as it sees fit but not for the good of our football."

And he warned without a CBF overhaul Brazil risked  the Belo Horizonte stadium where Brazil fell to the Germans.

The CBF did make one change on Thursday, appointing Gilmar Rinaldi as Brazil's new general co-ordinator.

The 55-year-old former national team goalkeeper will be responsible for all levels of the Brazil national team, including both male and female, the CBF said on its website.

Rinaldi's appointment comes after Carlos Alberto Parreira left his post as technical director following Brazil's World Cup exit, along with coach Luiz Felipe Scolari and his backroom staff.

Brazil are expected to name their new head coach next week, with Rinaldi saying at a news conference: "We've talked about some things and we are in contact. The most important thing is to define what we want and the profile of the person we want.

"We must recognise that we need to change."

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