In Brazil, the culture of quick managerial turnover is not an exception. It is the norm. Pressure is constant, time is scarce, and results dictate decisions at speed.
That context led local ESPN to take an interesting angle this week. The outlet placed Chelsea side by side with Brazil’s biggest teams – and the similarities are hard to ignore.
According to the report, Chelsea have increasingly operated within that same logic over the last two decades, regardless of who owns the club.
The numbers support that view. Since November 2020, Chelsea have appointed five permanent head coaches and relied on an interim once. The next appointment will be the sixth in less than six years. In Brazilian football, that level of churn would barely cause surprise.
Over the same period, giants Flamengo and São Paulo each changed managers seven times. Fluminense and Internacional reached eight. Grêmio went to nine, while Atlético Mineiro (10) hit double figures. At the extreme end, clubs like Vasco (16) and Santos (15) moved even faster, reinforcing how normal instability has become at the top level in Brazil.
There is only one clear outlier. Palmeiras have kept Abel Ferreira in charge since 2020, standing apart from both Brazilian rivals and Chelsea’s recent approach.
ESPN’s comparison is not about chaos, but culture. Chelsea’s relationship with managers now looks far closer to the Brazilian immediate-results model than to the long-term planning usually associated with Europe’s elite.
If Chelsea were playing in the Brazilian league, their behaviour would barely raise an eyebrow. It would be seen as a familiar case: a giant driven by short-term pressure, quick decisions and constant expectation, yet still broadly functional.
In that sense, ESPN’s conclusion almost writes itself. Chelsea may be European in budget and global reach, but when it comes to handling head coaches, the club now plays a game Brazil knows all too well.