Felipe Luis just got sacked by Flamengo despite winning his last match in charge of Flamengo with an 8:0 win against Madureira in the Brazilian Serie A Mata-Mata.
During Felipe Luis’s time at Flamengo, he won a total of five trophies at the club, which included the Copa do Brasil in 2024, the Supercopa in 2025, the Libertadores in 2025, and, most recently, the Brasileirao in 2025.
Aside from the trophies, he was one of the most successful managers in the club’s history, alongside Jorge Jesus and Flávio Costa. Felipe Luis also had a record of 63 wins, 21 draws, and 16 defeats in 100 games, for a 63% win rate.
Despite all these feats, why was Felipe Luis shown the exit door in an event which surprised many and brought an abrupt end to his time at the club?
Poor Performances
One reason for Felipe Luis’s dismissal was poor performance. In the 16 games Felipe Luis lost as Flamengo manager, 8 of them occurred in 2026 alone, and it looked like there wasn’t much improvement from the team.
Some of these results included a 1-0 home extra-time defeat to Lanús, despite going into the game as favourites for the tie. There was also the four-game winless stretch, which included the 2-0 defeat against Corinthians in the Supercopa do Brasil, the game against Sao Paulo, where they lost with a red card and the 2-1 away defeat against bitter rivals Fluminense.
This was their worst start in the league in over 10 years, as they managed only 4 points in their opening 3 games.
According to GEGlobal, the reason for this decline was the team’s failure to click and maintain team cohesion, both physically and mentally. This eventually led to poor communication between the first-team players and the first-team coaching staff.
Strained Relationship With Hierarchy
Another reason was also the strained relationship with the club’s hierarchy, as he had fallen out of favour with both the club president and the club’s sporting director.
GeGlobal reports that regardless of the result against Madureira, he would have been fired, as the extra-time defeat against underdogs Lanus was the final straw for club president Eduardo Baptista, who had run out of patience with Felipe.
The outlet also reported that the contract negotiations between Flamengo and Felipe Luis stalled for several months, which Baptista was far from pleased about.
Lastly, what also strained the relationship between the two was the president’s interference in the Campeonato Carioca match against Vasco, as Baptista wanted the main players to perform to salvage something from the competition. The former head coach of Flamengo saw this as interference with his decision-making by the hierarchy.
Club director Jose Boto, who had got along quite well with Felipe Luis, soon changed his stance on the matter, as he had barely communicated with Felipe prior to his dismissal from the club; however, the outlet stated that the club director had given the final green light for his dismissal as head coach.
Wasted Investments?
Flamengo had invested a total of £97M in the transfer window, which is a record for the most spent by a Brazilian club.
It also included a record signing by a Brazilian club, bringing back Lucas Paqueta to the club for £42M.
The club also brought in players such as Samuel Lino from Atletico Madrid for £22M, Jorge Carrascal for £12.50 M, Vitao for £10.20M, and Emerson Royal from AC Milan for £9.00M. The club also brought in both Jorginho and Saul Niguez from Arsenal and Atletico, respectively, on free transfers. The Brazilian giants ended the transfer window with a net spend of -£13.92M.
GeGlobo also revealed that the president had become dissatisfied and hadn’t preferred Luis from the start, but the Copa do Brasil title win still calmed the storm a little bit. This can be deduced from leaked audio in which the president says, ‘When you take the wrong train in life, you know what you have to do?’ Get off at the first possible station and go back.
Flirting with Blue Co?
Multiple sources, including Goal and UOL, had claimed that Felipe was in secret discussions with Blue Co. over the possibility of hiring Felipe Luis for what he thought was the Chelsea job, but it ended up being the Strasbourg job, which is the sister club of Chelsea owned by Blue Co.
However, upon learning it was for the Strasbourg job rather than the Chelsea job, he decided to withdraw, but it was too late, as club president Luiz Baptista had already discovered the secret meeting with Blue Co. and decided to contact Leonardo Jardim.
The meeting between Felipe Luis and Blue Co. spiralled down contract talks between Flamengo and him, and he didn’t respond to the club (Flamengo) for three days. This was the final straw in his dismissal, as it seemed imminent.
What’s Next for the Brazilian Giants?
Leonardo Jardim has been named the new manager and will oversee Flamengo’s next game against rivals Fluminense.
Jardim and Flamengo reached an agreement in December 2025, when contract talks between Flamengo and Felipe Luis had stalled.
GeGlobo also reported that the negotiation between Jardim and Flamengo was quick, as a deal had already been agreed upon earlier, and the club president sped up negotiations when he (Leonardo Jardim) was in Belo Horizonte.
Everything was finalised over the previous weekend, as club sporting director Boto had overseen that aspect.
Leonardo Jardim won the Saudi Pro League and the Saudi Super Cup in the 2021/2022 season and the AFC Champions League in 2021. He also won the UAE Pro League with Al Ahli Shabab in the 2022/2023 season.
Most impressively, he guided AS Monaco to the Ligue 1 title in 2017 and the Champions League semi-final that season. The Ligue 1 title win ended PSG’s five-year dominance in the Ligue 1. AS Monaco has not won the Ligue 1 since then.
Next Destination for Filipe
It’s quite repulsive to see that his stint at Flamengo ended in an inflammatory manner, but at the same time, a move to Europe was always on the cards, and now is a good time to explore a move to Europe; with the season’s end approaching and the World Cup looming, it’ll be interesting to see how things play out.
A lot of clubs will be swirling around for the 40-year-old ex-Atletico Madrid player. Clubs like Chelsea, Strasbourg and Atlético Madrid are all interested, but the move to Chelsea will most likely not materialise. If we are sure of one thing, a move to Europe at this stage is imminent.