José Boto on Filipe Luís exit at Flamengo: “Act of courage” | OneFootball

Flamengo football director José Boto spoke about Filipe Luís’ dismissal last month

One of Flamengo’s biggest periods of turmoil in recent years took place in March 2026, when the club fired Filipe Luís after an 8-0 thrashing in the semifinal of the Campeonato Carioca, even though the coach had won titles the previous season. Despite the surprise among a large part of the fan base, Rubro-Negro football director José Boto believes that was the necessary decision at the time and rejects the label that the department was cowardly toward one of the club’s idols.

— When you change coaches, it doesn’t mean that coach is bad. Sometimes there are contexts that are not the most suitable for that coach. What happened here was that, in the context that had been created after so many wins, with huge expectations, things were not aligned. So, the president and I, who are the people with the final say in football — and this was not decided overnight — concluded that a change was needed. We made a course correction, because there were things happening within the football team that I didn’t see any way of turning around with the situation as it was —, José Boto began.

— So, in the conversations we have with the president, which happen much more often than people imagine, we came to the conclusion that the solution was to change the coach. And that was the process that took place. We had to make some decision. I saw a lot of criticism, things like “cowardice.” On the contrary, it takes a great deal of courage to make a decision like that. There was nothing cowardly about it. The decision had to be made. Whether it was right or not, we’ll know at the end of the year. It was not an easy decision, and we knew we were going to take a lot of heat. It was an act of courage —, the Portuguese director added, to FlamengoTV.

WHY THE SURPRISE OVER FILIPE LUÍS’ DISMISSAL?

Appointed as Flamengo head coach at the end of 2024, Filipe Luís won the Libertadores, the Brasileirão, the Copa do Brasil, the Campeonato Carioca, and the Supercopa. In addition, the coach led Mengão to the Club World Cup final, losing on penalties to PSG (FRA).

After the magical 2025, however, the team began the 2026 season poorly, with defeats in the Supercopa against Corinthians and against Lanús (ARG) in the Recopa. So, even after qualifying for the final, the board chose to replace Filipe Luís with Leonardo Jardim.

HOW IS FLAMENGO DOING UNDER LEONARDO JARDIM?

As Boto himself said, the fans will only know at the end of the year whether the change was worth it. However, Jardim’s start is promising, with seven wins, two draws, and one loss in charge of the team. Filipe Luís, for example, in his first ten matches, had six wins, three draws, and one defeat.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.