| Brazil Olympic | |
| Badge: | Brasil Olympic Comittee crest.svg |
| Badge Size: | 135px |
| Fifa Trigramme: | BRA |
| Nickname: | Portuguese: Seleção (The Selection) Portuguese: Canarinha (Little Canary) Portuguese: Amarelinha (Little Yellow) Portuguese: Verde-Amarela (Green-Yellow) |
| Association: | Confederação Brasileira de Futebol (Brazilian Football Confederation) |
| Confederation: | CONMEBOL (South America) |
| Coach: | Ramon Menezes |
| Most Caps: | Ronaldinho (27) |
| Top Scorer: | Matheus Cunha (21) |
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| First Game: | 5–1 (Turku, Finland; 16 July 1952) |
| Largest Win: | 14–0 (Mexico City, Mexico; 17 October 1975) |
| Largest Loss: | 5–1 (Cali, Colombia; 10 February 1980) |
| Regional Name: | Olympic Games |
| Regional Cup Apps: | 14 |
| Regional Cup First: | 1952 |
| Regional Cup Best: | Gold medalist (2016, 2020) |
| 2Ndregional Name: | Pan American Games |
| 2Ndregional Cup Apps: | 11 |
| 2Ndregional Cup First: | 1959 |
| 2Ndregional Cup Best: | Gold medalist (1963, 1975, 1979, 1987, 2023) |
The Brazil national under-23 football team represents Brazil in international football competitions during Olympic Games and Pan American Games. The selection is limited to players under the age of 23, except three overage players. The team is controlled by the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF). Brazil U23 is one of the most successful teams in the Olympic football tournament, having won it twice (2016 and 2020) and securing a record total of seven medals, including two golds, three silvers, and two bronzes.
The Olympic football tournament was the last international competition in football organized by FIFA which Brazil had never won until they won at home in 2016. They had previously won three silver medals (1984, 1988, 2012) and two bronze medals (1996, 2008).[1] The team was often coached by the in-charge senior team coach in the past, such as Mário Zagallo in 1996, Vanderlei Luxemburgo in 2000, Dunga in 2008 and Mano Menezes in 2012.
Brazil's first participation in the Olympics was in Helsinki, Finland, in 1952. In that year, Brazil reached the quarter-finals, when they were eliminated by West Germany 4–2.[2] In 1960, in Rome, Italy,[3] in 1964 in Tokyo, Japan,[4] in 1968 in Mexico City, Mexico,[5] and in 1972 in Berlin, West Germany,[6] Brazil was eliminated in the first stage. In Montreal, 1976, Brazil was defeated by Poland 2–0 in the semi-finals, then Brazil was defeated by the Soviet Union 2–0 in the bronze medal match, finishing in the fourth place.[7] In these six participations, Brazil was represented by a team of junior or non-professional players as the Olympics did not allow professional players to participate during this period, all while state-sponsored communist players were allowed to compete.
Starting in 1984, professional players were allowed to participate. However, European and South American teams, as traditional football powerhouses that won every single FIFA World Cup, were restricted to players with no more than five "A" caps at the start of the tournament. Brazil won its first medal in 1984, in Los Angeles, United States. In the group stage, Brazil beat Saudi Arabia 3–1, West Germany 1–0 and Morocco 2–0. In the quarter-finals Brazil defeated Canada in the penalty shootout, then they beat Italy 2–1 after extra-time in the semi-finals, but was beaten by France 2–0 in the gold medal Match, thus winning the silver medal.[8]
The second Brazilian silver medal was won in Seoul, South Korea, in 1988. Brazil won the medal after defeating in the group stage Nigeria 4–0, Australia 3–0 and Yugoslavia 2–1. In the quarter-finals Brazil beat their South American rivals Argentina 1–0, then defeated West Germany in the penalty shootout, but was defeated by the Soviet Union 2–1 after extra time in the gold medal match.[9] Romário was the competition's top goal scorer with seven goals.[10]
Starting in 1992, only players under the age of 23 were allowed to participate, with an exception of three overage players in the team. Brazil, managed by senior team coach, Mário Zagallo, won the bronze medal for the first time in 1996, in Atlanta, United States. In the group stage, Brazil was beaten by Japan 1–0 in the first match, then they beat Hungary 3–1 and Nigeria 1–0, finishing in the group's first position. After beating Ghana 4–2 in the quarter-finals, Brazil was defeated by Nigeria 4–3 after extra time. In the bronze medal match, Brazil beat Portugal 5–0.[11]
Brazil, managed by senior team coach, Vanderlei Luxemburgo, was eliminated in the quarter-finals. In the group stage, Brazil beat by Slovakia 3–1 in the first match, then they were beaten by South Africa 3–1. In the last group match, Brazil beat Japan 1–0 to secure the first position in the group stage. In the quarter-finals, Brazil was beaten by Cameroon 1–2, who later won the gold medal.[12]
In December 2002, CBF appointed Ricardo Gomes as the coach for the Brazil Olympic team who were preparing for the 2004 Olympics. Prior to Olympic qualifying, the Brazil Olympic team or Brazil U23 was sent to compete at the 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Brazil was invited to the tournament and decided to send their Under-23 team, due to their senior team competing a month earlier at the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup. Although Brazil competed with an U23 team, all the appearances and goals in this tournament were recognized by FIFA as full international caps.[13] The Brazil U23 team advanced all the way to the final, but were defeated by Mexico 0–1 after extra time, denying Brazil the chance to be the first guest team to win the tournament. The following year Brazil failed to qualify for the 2004 Olympic Games after losing out to Paraguay and Argentina in the qualifying tournament.[14]
Brazil, managed by senior team coach, Dunga, finished in the first position in the group stage, ahead of Belgium, New Zealand and China, which they beat 1–0, 5–0 and 3–0 respectively.[15] In the second round, Brazil beat Cameroon 2–0 after extra time.[16] Brazil and Argentina met on August 19 in the semi-final game of the competition. The game was marred by numerous fouls and two ejections for Brazil. Argentina won 3–0.[17] In the bronze medal match, Brazil beat Belgium 3–0.[18]
Brazil, under coach Mano Menezes, was defeated by Mexico 2–1 in the gold medal match, played on 11 August,[19] after beating Egypt, Belarus and New Zealand in the preliminary round, Honduras in the quarter-finals and South Korea in the semi-finals. Before the Games, they beat Great Britain 2–0 in a friendly game.
Brazil finished in the first position in the group stage, ahead of Denmark (won 4–0), Iraq (tied 0–0) and South Africa (tied 0–0), with the two latter games were a slumpy start for Brazil. In the second round, Brazil beat Colombia 2–0 and in the semi-final match, Brazil played a one-sided game against Honduras and won 6–0. In the final against Germany, on 20 August 2016 – the first match between the two teams in any FIFA-sanctioned tournament since the historic 2014 FIFA World Cup semi-final – Brazil edged a 5–4 victory on penalties after a 1–1 draw. Neymar, captaining the side, scored the decisive penalty to win the tournament for the first time ever.[20]
Brazil qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics as the runners-up, of the 2020 CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament in a rather difficult campaign. The team finished at the top of their group with 7 points, following a 4–2 win over Germany, a 0–0 draw to Ivory Coast and a 3–1 win over Saudi Arabia. They beat Egypt 1–0 in the quarter-finals, and Mexico in the semi-finals with a 4–1 victory in the penalty shootouts following a 0–0 draw in extra time. In the final against Spain, Matheus Cunha opened the score for Brazil in the first half and a Mikel Oyarzabal goal in the second half forced the match into extra time; Malcom scored the winning goal in the 108th minute, which lead Brazil to their second Olympic gold medal, consecutively after their first win in Rio five years prior.[21] [22]
See main article: Brazil Olympic football team results (1952–1988) and Brazil Olympic football team results (1991–present).
The following 18 players were called up for the 2023 Pan American Games.[23]
Overage Players are marked with asterisk (*).
The following players have been called up to a Brazil under-23 squad in the last 12 months.
| Tournament | Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aldair (DF) | Rivaldo (MF) | Bebeto (FW) | ||
| Did not select | ||||
| Thiago Silva (DF) | Ronaldinho (MF) | Did not select | ||
| Thiago Silva (DF) | Marcelo (DF) | Hulk (FW) | ||
| Weverton (GK) | Renato Augusto (MF) | Neymar (FW) | ||
| Aderbar Santos (GK) | Diego Carlos (DF) | Dani Alves (DF) | ||
See main article: Brazil national football team records and statistics.
14–0 vs., 17 October 1975
10–0 vs., 28 April 1963
9–0 vs., 30 January 2000
9–1 vs., 2 September 1959
7–0 vs., 23 October 1975
7–0 vs., 7 April 1999
7–0 vs., 12 January 2000
7–1 vs., 27 December 1959
Football at the Summer Olympics has been an under-23 tournament since 1992.
| Olympic Games record | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Host and Year | Round | Position | Squad | |||||||
 Paris 1900 | Only club teams participated | |||||||||
 St. Louis 1904 | ||||||||||
 London 1908 | No national representative | |||||||||
 Stockholm 1912 | ||||||||||
 Antwerp 1920 | Did not participate | |||||||||
| Paris 1924 | ||||||||||
 Amsterdam 1928 | ||||||||||
| Berlin 1936 | ||||||||||
| London 1948 | ||||||||||
| Quarter-finals | 5th | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 6 | Squad | ||
 Melbourne 1956 | Did not participate | |||||||||
| Group stage | 6th | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 6 | Squad | ||
| Group stage | 9th | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 2 | Squad | ||
| Group stage | 13th | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | Squad | ||
| Group stage | 13th | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | Squad | ||
| Fourth place | 4th | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 6 | Squad | ||
| Moscow 1980 | Did not qualify | |||||||||
| Silver medal | 2nd | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 5 | Squad | ||
| Silver medal | 2nd | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 4 | Squad | ||
 Barcelona 1992 | Did not qualify | |||||||||
| Bronze medal | 3rd | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 8 | Squad | ||
| Quarter-finals | 7th | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 6 | Squad | ||
 Athens 2004 | Did not qualify | |||||||||
| Bronze medal | 3rd | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 3 | Squad | ||
| Silver medal | 2nd | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 7 | Squad | ||
 Rio de Janeiro 2016 | Gold medal | 1st | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 13 | 1 | Squad | |
 Tokyo 2020 | Gold medal | 1st | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 4 | Squad | |
| Paris 2024 | Did not qualify | |||||||||
| Total | 2 Gold medals | 14/24 | 66 | 38 | 12 | 16 | 134 | 69 | — | |
For the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympics, the qualification tournament was the South American Youth Football Championship.
| CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament record | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=70 | Year | width=110 | Round | width=40 | width=40 | width=40 | width=40 | width=40 | width=40 | ||||||
 1960 | Third place | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 14 | 10 | ||||||||
| 1964 | Runners-up | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 2 | ||||||||
 1968 | Champions | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 2 | ||||||||
| 1971 | Champions | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 3 | ||||||||
| 1976 | Champions | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 2 | ||||||||
| 1980 | Fifth place | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 12 | ||||||||
 1984 | Champions | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 3 | ||||||||
 1987 | Champions | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 9 | ||||||||
| 1992 | Group stage | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | ||||||||
 1996 | Champions | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 21 | 6 | ||||||||
| 2000 | Champions | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 24 | 6 | ||||||||
| 2004 | Third place | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 5 | ||||||||
| 2020 | Runners-up | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 7 | ||||||||
 2024 | Third place | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 7 | ||||||||
| Total | 7 Titles | 85 | 51 | 19 | 15 | 166 | 78 | ||||||||
| Pan American Games record | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Host and Year | Round | Position | Squad | |||||||
| Did not enter | ||||||||||
 Mexico City 1955 | ||||||||||
| Silver medal | 2nd | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 27 | 11 | Squad | ||
| Gold medal | 1st | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 3 | Squad | ||
| Did not enter | ||||||||||
| Cali 1971 | ||||||||||
| Gold medal | 1st | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 33 | 2 | Squad | ||
| Gold medal | 1st | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 1 | Squad | ||
| Silver medal | 2nd | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | Squad | ||
| Gold medal | 1st | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 2 | Squad | ||
| Did not enter | ||||||||||
| Quarter-finals | 5th | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 2 | Squad | ||
| Did not enter | ||||||||||
| Silver medal | 2nd | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 2 | Squad | ||
| Group stage | 5th | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 4 | Squad | ||
| Group stage | 6th | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | Squad | ||
| Bronze medal | 3rd | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 7 | Squad | ||
| Did not qualify[24] | ||||||||||
| Gold medal | 1st | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 1 | Squad | ||
| Total | 5 Gold medals | 12/19 | 55 | 38 | 11 | 6 | 154 | 40 | — | |