Paulo Victor seeks winning identity for Brazil’s U20 and U23s | OneFootball

“A good son always returns home.” With these words, four-time world champion Branco, coordinator of the CBF Youth National Teams, introduced Paulo Victor Gomes to the players of the Brazil U-20 National Team, the first group called up by the new manager, who will also take on the role of head coach of the U-23 National Team.

PV, as he is also known, returns to the Home of Brazilian Football after winning the U-15 South American Championship in 2019 as head coach, and Olympic gold in Tokyo as André Jardine’s assistant, as well as having had a spell as coach of the U-17 National Team. By his side will be assistant coach Lucas Andrade, another youth football specialist, with whom Paulo Victor shares both a long partnership and friendship.

His first commitments in charge will be the friendlies on March 28 and 31 against Paraguay. But on the horizon, Paulo Victor has the U-20 cycle leading up to the South American Championship and the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2027, as well as the Olympic project for 2028. Results are part of his planning. To achieve them, the coach has one key word: identity. “I really like using that word. The player has to feel the Brazilian National Team in a different way,” he said in an exclusive interview with CBF TV. Check out the full interview and the other topics covered by PV below:

CBF TV: You now return to the National Team as head coach. What does it mean to take charge of the U-20 and Pre-Olympic teams at this point in your career?

Paulo Victor: For me, it is a source of great pride, a lot of gratitude, and also a feeling of having earned it because of the whole path I have taken here within the Brazilian National Team, at Palmeiras, and more recently at América, after three years in Mexican football. So I truly feel privileged to be able to return to this institution at such a special moment, with the World Cup approaching, at a time when we understand that the institution sees this U-20 and Olympic Team project very positively, with a great deal of attention, giving us very interesting working conditions and structure. So it is a source of great pride. We have to roll up our sleeves, work, and give our very best so that our National Team can once again rank among the top teams in the world, whether in the U-20 cycle or the Olympic cycle.

Your path in the National Team youth setup (U-15 and U-17) and at Palmeiras has always been marked by developing talent. How does that experience influence the work you intend to do now?

Exactly, I had the privilege of working with great players, both at club level and with the National Team, throughout their development process. I think what helps a lot is the benchmark we have, the level of these players, right? Following a player’s growth from U-15 to U-20, following the development of players who were under our care through a U-20 cycle and then an Olympic cycle, gives you a lot of reference points, gives you a real sense of what the group truly needs, what each role, each position, each area of the team really needs to perform at a high level and aim for great things in the U-20 and U-23 cycles.

Paulo Victor’s first activities with the U-20 National Team were used for observation and the introduction of conceptsCredits: Staff Images / CBF

You were also part of the Olympic gold medal-winning staff in Tokyo alongside André Jardine. What lessons from that cycle can be applied now at youth level?

I think the greatest added value I have throughout my journey is exactly that: the experience gained at club level and within the National Team, working with players of the very highest level over the course of that path. It was a very, very enjoyable cycle to live through.

It was a very special moment that began in 2019, with the Toulon Tournament in France, and extended all the way to Olympic gold in Tokyo, in which many of the players who took part in that cycle now play leading roles in the senior National Team. So the learning experience was enormous. My relationship with André was very good. He is someone I look up to, someone who inspires me, because of his ideas, the way he works, and the person he is. I lived through that cycle and still maintain a working relationship with him today, one built on a great deal of affection and friendship, sustained by the professionalism of both sides and daily commitment. And I will certainly bring a lot from that cycle into my current work here with the U-20 and U-23 teams.

Speaking of partnerships, you return to the National Team with Lucas Andrade as your assistant coach.

Ah, Lucas is a great person and a great professional. I think choices have a lot to do with that. Character goes hand in hand with professionalism all the time. Adding up all the time we have spent together, with a few interruptions when each of us went our separate ways—he went to China for a while, for example—and then we met again at Palmeiras. But since 2016, exactly 10 years ago, we have worked together, from the time he was with Palmeiras U-14 and I was with U-15.

I leave for the National Team, he takes over my position at Palmeiras U-15, then joins me as assistant with the Brazil U-15 National Team, and together we won the 2019 U-15 South American Championship in Paraguay. Then he went to have an experience in China while I stayed on with the National Team. And after the Olympic Games, we returned together to Palmeiras U-20, renewing a great partnership.

Then I went to América in 2023, he once again stayed in my place at Palmeiras U-20, and now we are together again. I think it’s a two-way street: we help each other a lot, we know each other well, and there is great chemistry between us. That is very important in National Team work, where you never have time—I usually say you have to arrive already doing, already showing results. Professional alignment, and consequently personal alignment too, contributes a lot to making this work cycle move faster.

The coach will have Lucas Andrade as assistant coachCredits: Staff Images / CBF

How do you see the role of the U-20 National Team in the transition process toward the senior National Team?

For me, it is an extremely important role. When we look back at the full history of the Brazil U-20 National Team, our last world title in the category was in 2011. In that team, there were players who have been part of the National Team setup for more than 10 years, such as Casemiro and Danilo, who are still with the senior National Team today. Alex Sandro, Oscar, Coutinho, Alan Patrick, Dudu... all of them, at some point, had standout moments with the senior National Team, a natural rise to the senior squad, but I tend to strongly associate the quality of successful work with the natural continuation of the process.

When you achieve victories, titles, with protagonism, playing good football, as also happened at the Tokyo Olympic Games, where many players then continued with the Brazilian National Team, it becomes a natural process. When it comes to the National Team, where the best players are, major achievements certainly pave a path of progression, a natural path that goes through U-20, U-23, and the senior National Team. And that is my main focus: to deliver to the senior National Team, in the short and medium term, players who can represent our country very well, with protagonism, authority, and above all with an identity connected to the Brazilian National Team. I really like using that word. The player has to feel the Brazilian National Team in a different way, and he only feels that by being there, by living the National Team’s daily routine. And when there is a successful process, that feeling is even better, and he carries it very strongly into his day-to-day life with the Brazilian National Team.

Your first squad brings together players from different recent youth cycles. What is the main challenge in giving this team an identity in such a short time?

This new 2007 generation, together with the 2008 generation, who make up the current U-20 cycle age group for the 2027 competitions, differ, in my view, in terms of experience and time spent with the Brazilian National Team. The 2007 generation has had only one call-up throughout the entire youth cycle, which was a tournament in Portugal in 2024, if I’m not mistaken. The 2008 generation, meanwhile, completed a South American Championship and World Cup cycle. They already have much more experience and much more day-to-day exposure within the National Team. And my role here is to unify a mentality, an identity, as the Brazilian National Team. And when I say unify identity, I mean unify behaviors.

Obviously, every player comes from a different school, every player comes from a different club, they play in different ways, they have different game behaviors, and here we need to bring everyone together within a Brazilian National Team identity.

I believe this is a cycle, a process, it takes time. There is no point in me telling you here that overnight we are going to show our best version. No, that is not how it works. But I know the responsibility the Brazilian National Team has to speed up these processes, and through a methodology that conveys the ideas faster, that establishes the patterns faster, I try to achieve the expected result as soon as possible, both in terms of performance and results. I think that, with the Brazilian National Team, those two things have to go hand in hand. Brazilian fans want to see a team that plays on the front foot, that overwhelms the opponent, and also gets results. So we are going to work very hard to make that happen as quickly as possible and achieve all our objectives in this category.

One of Paulo Victor’s trademarks is his ability to polish young talentsCredits: Staff Images / CBF

You make your debut as head coach in a South American derby against Paraguay. In this first commitment, is the goal to play good football and win, or is the important thing simply to come away with victories?

Ah, without a doubt, I really believe in the game as a tool for player development. I think players only improve by playing. I think that, as a National Team, we only get a real benchmark when we face other national teams in the category. It was something I asked of the entire board, and I was promptly supported, with everyone agreeing with the idea. Paraguay are a great opponent; these are always very tough matches. It is a team that defends very well, is very aggressive, very competitive, and I think that gives us the true competition scenario.

That certainly sharpens our choices and exposes our players to the exact level of difficulty we will find in competition, which is our first challenge, the U-20 South American Championship in January 2027. And when it comes to the Brazilian National Team, we always have to pursue both things: performance—seeing the behaviors we are working on—combined with results. That is something I will demand a lot from the players, this commitment to victories, to titles, always with our identity, with our essence, so that we can work on both fronts together.

Lastly, what message would you like to send Brazilian fans about this new generation that is just getting started?

I think, in general, I would allow myself to send the fans a message of expectation, patriotism, and strong support for these young players. I think these players need our support. For me, the Brazilian National Team is experiencing a different moment, a special moment, with the World Cup approaching, and for these young players, playing with the support of the fans here in Brazil, now in these two matches against Paraguay, is not something common, something that happens all the time.

So I ask the fans to support them, to get behind the boys, to truly feel the Brazilian National Team up close, because on our side we will strive to deliver the best version of ourselves possible, play a great match, show the essence of Brazilian football, within the little time we have had to work, but we will fight hard for our identity and build an increasingly strong relationship with the fans through what they see on the pitch.

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