PurposeAlthough leadership succession is a popular area of study across different professional sports leagues, existing research has largely ignored South America despite Brazilian football seeming to surpass the limits of coaching turnovers in comparison to any other league worldwide.Design/methodology/approachThis study examines the causes and consequences of 594 head coach turnovers in the Brasileirão from 2003 to 2018. A comprehensive longitudinal dataset was compiled (n = 13,012) and a series of regression analysis evaluated the determinants of coaching replacements as well as their effect on team performance.FindingsStatistical results revealed that coaching survival is significantly determined by a negative spell of three to four games, parallel competitions and performance expectations with three games in advance. Regarding performance outcomes, it takes seven games for a slight sign of improvement to be identified after a coach turnover, but no clear positive effects are recognized as an aftermath, supporting the ritual scapegoating theory.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest that decision makers should consider the importance of a rational evaluation and the crucial component of time instead of judging coaches based on subjectivity and immediate results. Meanwhile, coaches should avoid voluntary turnovers, exercising priorities ahead of continental cups and sequences with few points accumulated.Originality/valueThis investigation discloses a valuable reference for coaches, sport managers and academic scholars interested in Brazilian football, as it extends knowledge development and theoretical understanding for a region that still lacks scientific evidence to back up its practical assumptions in sports.

A superficial attitude in football insists on blaming head coaches when games are lost. Controversially, however, whereas decision-makers in professional football clubs claim to seek successful outcomes on the pitch, they often favor questionable judgements that affect their organizational sustainability by recycling coaches without substantial analyses. Albeit scholars have stressed potential causes and consequences of coaching turnovers, specific knowledge is needed around the recruitment and dismissal steps faced by professional coaches, and to what extent their experiences mirror the theoretical background of human resource management in sport. This study poses the following research question: how do football clubs actually handle coaching recruitment and dismissal processes? Qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 26 elite coaches from Brazil, who had collectively been employed by all 43 clubs that participated in the Brasileirão from 2003 to 2020. Based on a deductive-inductive approach, the content analysis framed two categories (recruitment and dismissal stages) with three main themes (methods, decision-makers, and decision-making), which were sustained by specific subthemes. The results suggest how the recruitment, assessment, and replacement of head coaches neglect both a strategic and a sustainable rationale towards human resource management in Brazil’s elite football.

Theoretically, professional coaches should improve team performance through a sustained, progressive, and structured training and competitive program. Nevertheless, the reality poses different expectations around football activities in Brazil, where coaching spells have lasted on average 65 days during the domestic league season. Adopting the conceptual foundation designed by the International Sport Coaching Framework (ISCF), this research aims to examine the competences perceived to be important for professional football coaches and compare them to the ISCF. This study asks the following research question: what coaching competences are expected and valued in Brazilian football, and how do they compare to the ISCF? Qualitative, semistructured interviews were conducted with 29 head coaches and 30 staff members. A directed content analysis yielded similarities around the ISCF’s functional competences, while also outlining one additional category: deliver short-term winning results. The findings reveal a set of subcategories that support the contextual idiosyncrasies of high-performance football in Brazil. Within their domestic territory, elite coaches must navigate across a puzzle of nonfootball demands to adapt to their social and political reality which apparently ranks short-term game results above the essence of sport coaching practice.

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