Which Home Clubs Contribute The Most Players To Tite’s Brazil Squad?

For the 2021 World Cup qualifiers, Tite has called up a total of 46 players. We take a look at where they started and their chances of making the team in next year’s competition!

Brazil Head Coach Tite announced a 46-man squad to represent Brazil in the World Cup qualifiers. We narrowed the number down and looked at players who are likely to feature more going forward based on their recent performances and preference by Tite.

Although most Brazilian players play for international clubs, we sought to find out which home clubs they played for before becoming global superstars.

A surprising fact: one of the most decorated stars in the team didn’t start their professional career in Brazil. Reputedly dismissed via a call by São Paulo, Ederson decided to go to Portugal aged 15 and found a home in Benfica. However, even without Ederson, São Paulo or Tricolor Paulista as the club is famously known, has developed most of the players called up to the Brazilian national squad.

Five of the top Brazilian talents, including striker Antony, midfielder Casemiro, defenders Éder Militão, and Rodrigo Caio, and goalkeeper Éverson spent their youth at Morumbi. We want to clarify that we consider the last athlete’s last team before inking their first contract as their training club. So, for a player like Firmino, Figueirense was his base club since he left the CRB and joined Figueira’s U-17.

The Dominance of Paulistãos

Besides São Paulo, top clubs in the Brazilian top-flight professional football league have continued to contribute many players to the national team. For example, Santos and Corinthians each pride themselves in having four players in the Brazilian national team.

Peixe is known for producing lethal attacking players, including Neymar, Rodrygo and Gabriel Barbosa. On the other hand, Corinthians produces some of the best defensive players, including Weverton, Marquinhos and Guilherme Arana.

Coming behind these two are Rio de Janeiro’s favorite teams, Fluminense and Vasco, with each having three of their players called up by Tite, same with Athletico.

Traditional Teams Are Also Represented

Traditionally celebrated clubs such as Palmeiras, Flamengo, Gremio, Internacional, Coritiba and Amer-ca-MG also have two players each in the Seleção. Others clubs that have had their former players called up to the national squad include Desportivo Brasil, Vitória, Ceará, Audax Osasco, Bahia, União Mogi, Caxias, Avaí, Juventude, Figueirense, Benfica and Ponte Preta.

Interestingly, clubs currently struggling to perform are yet to convince Tite to call up any of their players to the team. Among them are Botafogo and Cruzeiro. What’s more worrying is that the former was the club that contributed most players to the Seleção in the last century.

Which is The Most Probable Lineup?

As it stands, picking the starting lineup can be a daunting task for anyone, including Tite. With such an expansive list, the couch can front players from a tactical standpoint and allow other athletes to replace those nursing injuries. We should expect the formations and game strategies to keep changing since Brazil is still trying to find its footing and revive its lost glory.

Defensively, Tite doesn’t have a lot of options, but he’s been alternating the short stoppers really well. In the first 10 games, he gave Alisson and Weverton four starts. Ederson played two games, but when he didn’t show up in September, Tite called up the goalkeeper from Palmeira.
Danillo featured in all the 10 games, Marquinhos 8 times, Alex Sandro 5 times and Eder Militao 5 games in the defense department.

One player who appears to be Tite’s current favourite besides Neymar is Casemero. He’s almost always the first player in the lineup in a midfield where most changes have occurred. During a recent game against Paraguay, the coach played Richarlison and Gabriel Jesus as midfielders, leaving the attacking role to Neymar and Firmino.

In terms of games played, Lucas Paquetá played 6 times, Casemero 6 times and Everton Ribeiro 6 times. The attacking trio that frequently started in the last 10 games includes Gabriel Jesus on 6 games, Neymar 7 games and Gabriel Barbosa 6 games.

So, based on the number of appearances, we think these 11 players are highly favored to be on the team:

Conclusion

While Tite doesn’t always announce his preferred 11 players, we are convinced these are the first players to expect when Brazil is playing important matches.