Brazil coach Tite to step down after World Cup

Brazil coach Tite said Friday he would step down after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, for which his five-time world champions are among the favourites.

"I will stay until the end of the World Cup," the 60-year-old told Brazilian channel SporTV.

"I am very focused on my work. I know that football is made up of cycles and I had a unique opportunity to find myself in this position, when many other top professionals were also hitting their peak."

Tite, whose real name is Adenor Leonardo Bacchi, has been coaching the team since June 2016 and will hope to end his stint by securing Brazil's sixth World Cup win to add to the titles they won in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, and 2002.

He took over when Brazil's fortunes were at a low ebb, having been eliminated in the group stage of the Copa America in the United States in 2016.

Under Tite, Brazil went to the 2018 World Cup as one of the favourites but with Neymar carrying an injury and well below his best, they bowed out in the quarter-finals, beaten 2-1 by Belgium.

Neymar was still injured when Brazil bounced back a year later to win the Copa America on home soil.

That launched an impressive qualifying campaign for the 2022 World Cup which saw Brazil among the first to book their place, with five matches to spare.

But Tite is regularly criticised by supporters for his strategy which is often felt to be too defensive, a distant cry from the attacking flair of legends like Pele, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho.

Tite landed the national job after a successful spell as coach of Sao Paolo club Corinthians, with whom he won the Club World Cup in 2012 as well as the Brazilian championship in 2011 and 2015.