Former Athletico coach enters Flamengo’s sights

Although the Portuguese is one of the names on Fla’s radar, the favorite to fill the vacancy is the Brazilian William Batista, who occupies the position of Corinthians’ under-20 team. According to Casagrande, Rubro-Negro from Rio should make an offer to the 33-year-old coach, who also has experience with América-MG and Vasco.

Bruno Pivetti and assistant Ricardo Pagani leave Flamengo after being champions of the Intercontinental U20 against Barcelona, ​​at Maracanã. However, the bad performances at the beginning of the 2026 Carioca Championship, when the team played as a professional, and the vice-president of the Libertadores under-20 did not please the fans. The trigger, however, was the three consecutive defeats in the under-20 Brasileirão, results that took Flamengo out of the G8, which guarantees a place in the quarterfinals.

Before his experience at Fla, Bruno Pivetti won the 2025 Paranaense Championship title with Operário. He was announced during the period that he was without a club after Fantasma was fired in mid-June. Pivetti began his career as an assistant to Fernando Diniz at Audax-SP. At Athletico, between 2015 and 2017, he was also an assistant on the main team and commanded the under-20 team. As a professional coach, he has spent time at Vitória, CSA, Goiás, Chapecoense, Guarani and Náutico, as well as other smaller clubs.

João Correia’s time at Athletico

After standing out in the youth categories of Barra-SC, João Correia arrived at Rubro-Negro in 2024 on the recommendation of the then football executive Rodrigo Possebon, now at Paraná Club. In three seasons with the under-20s, the coach won the Copa Sul twice and the Campeonato Paranaense last year.

The Portuguese also worked as interim coach of the main team between the departure of Maurício Barbieri and the arrival of Odair Hellmann last season. He led the team in three games, two in Série B — a draw at home with Chapecoense and an away defeat to Vila Nova — and one in qualifying for the round of 16 of the Copa do Brasil, in the victory over Brusque. With this, he became the youngest coach in Athletico’s history.

This year, João Correia coached the aspiring team in seven of the ten games of the Campeonato Paranaense, with a campaign of four wins, two draws and one defeat. He was not on the sidelines during the semi-final elimination, in the Arena da Baixada, against Londrina 1-0.

Afterwards, the Portuguese turned his attention to the Brasileirão and the Under-20 State Championship. Rubro-Negro lost two of the first three games in the national competition, but was 100% successful at Paranaense, with an away victory over Coritiba in the last round.