3 lessons MLS should learn from Brazilian Club World Cup success | OneFootball

As the round of 16 at the FIFA Club World Cup begins tomorrow, you'd have to be blind not to notice the Brazilian influence.

All four entrants from the Western Hemisphere's second-largest country have reached the knockout phase of the competition, and with some style, too, slaying European giants Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain in the process and losing only once across 12 group matches.

While the performance may have surprised those who aren't super familiar with South American football, closer observers are only seeing what has been reflected in the nation's recent dominance of Copa Libertadores, winning the last six titles and providing 10 of the last 12 finalists.

For MLS fans, imagining similar continental and global results may feel like an unlikely dream, given the league's continued underwhelming performance in Concacaf and mediocre showing at the Club World Cup. But some very simple lessons from Brazil actually apply fairly well to MLS in its pursuit of continued growth.

Here are 3 of the biggest:

Domestic players are critical

As mentioned before, Brazil is a huge nation with the second-highest population in the Western Hemisphere behind the U.S. And unlike MLS, the domestic player pool is a huge driver of Brazil's best clubs.

Of the four Brazilian sides competing, three of them feature six or more domestic players among the 11 most-used in Serie A play this season. The other, Palmeiras, has four among its most-used 11.

That's an enormous contrast with MLS' three entrants, none of whom feature more than four players whose primary nationality is American, according to FBref.com.

The point isn't that MLS should shy away from signing foreign players, but rather that it needs to become more lucrative for mid-tier, experienced domestic players.

Yes, you want your nation's elite to try to break through in a Big Five European league.

But U.S. National Soccer Players lists more than 60 U.S. national team pool players who ply their trade abroad, with many of them at leagues whose level compares evenly with MLS or worse. That says nothing of non-USMNT pool talent at also plays abroad for a range of reasons, including more freedom of movement and favorable compensation.

The MLS Players Union has made considerable gains in terms of widening free agency and increasing minimum salaries. But if the league truly wants to reach its potential, it has to be as desirable as any other in the world for all but the very elite American player who can be a UEFA Champions League contributor.

That likely involves expanding free agency far wider, as well as loosening or eliminating territorial rights when it comes to youth development.

Regional play matters in a big country

As a large nation with a geographic footprint similar to the lower 48 United States, Brazil has grown to its current status in part because of a rich history of regional competition.

The national league has only existed continuously since 1971, and in terms of a true European-style round robin, since the early 2000s. But what has kept Brazilian club football going was highly popular regional state championships that are still contested early in the year before national competition begins in late March or early April.

That doesn't mean MLS or the larger USSF landscape should create separate regional competitions per se. But it does support the idea that clubs can become nationally and internationally successful while maintaining some focus on local competition.

That means there should at least be an openness to exploring a divisional structure in MLS similar to other North American sports leagues, and also supports the continued regionalization of earlier stages of U.S. Open Cup play.

It's OK to be yourself

Palmeiras v Al Ahly - FIFA Club World Cup 2025 | Anadolu/GettyImages

This much is clear from watching how the players and fans of Botafogo, Flamengo, Fluminense and Palmeias comport themselves: They decidedly don't look anything like the highly Euro- and Anglo-centric version of soccer that most American fans are familiar with.

Amid MLS' recent obsession with trying to brand everything like it's Europ-lite, the success of Brazilian clubs on the field and the goodwill built by their supporters in the stands should serve as proof that there's more than one way to resonate.

We're often self-conscious about that in America, especially since soccer is one of the very few sports we devote attention to that doesn't have its roots here. And it's fair to say the way Brazilian, Argentine, North African and East Asian clubs and fans have expressed themselves also doesn't look familiar to the American sports tradition.

But each still offers a different from Europe, one authentic to their own cultures. And when coupled with a lot of talent, that approach is just as capable of earning results.