November 1 – Brazil coach Tite has defended his son and national team backroom staff member Matheus Bachi (pictured sitting) after the latter liked anti-feminist and anti-LGBTQ posts on social media.
Brazilian national team sponsor Nike has said it is monitoring the situation, increasing the pressure on Bachi.
Bachi junior liked a series of posts on Instagram pages that published content critical of the feminist and LGBTQIAP+ movements, criticised the press, ridiculed the supreme court and “communism”. The respective pages also tend to publish pro-arms content, but at a news conference on Friday, Tite said there is no room for prejudice in society.
“And I was asked a while ago about black technicians,” explained the Brazil coach (pictured left). “Prejudice should not exist, we are in a process of equality in society, whether of colour, race or gender.”
In a statement, the Confederation of Brazilian Football (CBF) said that the organisation “spoke directly with the aforementioned official, who acknowledged his mistake by ‘liking’ the post as he does not share such an opinion.”
But that might not be enough to save Matheus Bachi’s job, with sportswear giant saying: “Nike vehemently repudiates any and all forms of discrimination or prejudice.”
The CBF hierarchy was in particular angered by Bachi junior’s ‘like’ of one of the posts of Maurício Souza, a volleyball player whose contract was terminated by Minas Tênis Clube for having published homophobic posts on Instagram. De Souza was dismissed following pressure from sponsors, including Fiat, which also backs Brazil’s national team.
In the past, Tite, who often emphasises meritocracy as the guiding criterion for his squad selection, has been criticised for making his son a part of the national team set-up.
Matheus Bachi was an assistant to his father at Corinthians, but the CBF had to amend its statutes to accommodate the father-son partnership when Tite succeeded Dunga in 2016. The organisation’s code of ethics vetoed the hiring of relatives of any employee.
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