Fabinho relishes Brazil recall after three years away

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Gazeta Esportiva.com

·11 November 2025

Fabinho relishes Brazil recall after three years away

Fabinho, midfielder for Al-Ittihad, has been called up again to defend the Brazilian National Team after three years absent. The last time the player wore the yellow jersey was at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Despite accumulating 62 call-ups, 29 games, and almost 1,500 minutes on the field for Brazil, Fabinho said he feels “as if it were the first time.”

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“The feeling of being called up again after almost three years away is a new sensation. It's like it's the first time arriving here, seeing your clothes in the room, opening the backpack, and really looking at it… Having this first-time feeling is really cool,” he revealed in an interview with CBF TV.

Fabinho has been playing in Saudi football since 2023, and even in a league of lesser global prominence, he caught the interest of coach Carlo Ancelotti. He also expressed the dream of remaining on the Italian's list until the 2026 World Cup.

“This call-up came at a special moment for me, and I have to take advantage of being here. I had been saying that I work at my club to get an opportunity to be called here. Now I've been called, and it's up to me to give my best, work day by day, and show why I'm here. The dream is always ahead to go to the World Cup, but I know that for that I have to do well here,” he said.

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While he was away from the National Team, the midfielder saw an improvement in the team, especially with the arrival of Ancelotti and his coaching staff.

“What I saw from the outside was the team on the field, that in the National Team since the coach and the new staff arrived, there was an evolution, you can already see some tactical changes he implemented in the team. And it seems that the team managed to understand this idea well. In the last friendlies, they played well, despite having a negative result in the last game, you could see that the National Team played well,” he said.

“I faced them a few times and most of the time I wasn't successful in this matchup. I think he won almost all against me when he was at Real Madrid against Liverpool. And it's a cool experience to work with a coach who is so successful and with his staff. I'm looking forward to seeing the day-to-day in training and continuing to learn,” he added.