Football Season Guide

Botafogo’s 2025 season was a mixed campaign. In Série A 'Fogão' finished 6th, showing periods of strong form under Davide Ancelotti but with inconsistency in attack and defence that kept them outside the title race. In the Copa do Brasil they reached the quarter-finals, and in the Copa Libertadores they advanced to the round of 16 before elimination, while also finishing runner-up in the Recopa Sudamericana. Club was haunted by several key injuries in critical moments of the season, often pushing the unexperienced Davide Ancelotti into improvising and risky decisions which weren't always correct. Argentinean Martín Anselmi was the choice to replace Davide Ancelloti. The Italian left already in 2026 for a disagreement with the board. Anselmi is coming from a highly negative experience in European football, after impressing in Mexico in 2024. Anselmi is seen as a romantic, attacking-minded manager with some problems to adjust his ideas to his players. Club is under a transfer ban, so there hasn't been too much action on the market for Fogão. It is possible that the ban is lifted in the next weeks, and a few players should be signed by then. For now, Fogão will count with three new faces, all signed still in 2025, before the ban. While centre-halves Ythallo and Riquelme should be options for the future, winger Lucas Villalba should be useful right away. Botafogo's main strength resides in the positions directly supporting the striker. Savarino, Montoro, Santi Rodriguez, Artur, Matheus Martins, Correa and the new signing Villalba will give Anselmi plenty options to build the trio that will feed Arthur Cabral.