Corinthians Sack Dorival Júnior After Nine-Match Winless Run
Key Facts
— — Corinthians fired Dorival Júnior on Sunday night after a 1-0 home defeat to Internacional at Neo Química Arena in Brasileirão Round 10 — the club’s ninth consecutive match without a victory
— — Dorival managed 63 matches across his second stint at Corinthians, winning the 2025 Copa do Brasil and 2026 Supercopa Rei — but a run of four defeats and five draws in nine games made his position untenable
— — Under-20 coach William Batista takes temporary charge while the club considers replacements — Argentine coach Juan Pablo Vojvoda, who worked closely with sporting director Marcelo Paz at Fortaleza, is the leading candidate
From Copa do Brasil champion to nine games without a win in under four months. Corinthians’ patience ran out on Sunday — and now the biggest club in São Paulo needs a reset.
Corinthians Dorival Júnior era ended Sunday night when the club issued an official statement confirming the manager’s departure, minutes after a 1-0 home loss to Internacional in Brasileirão Round 10. The defeat — Corinthians’ fourth in the last nine matches, with five draws — left the Parque São Jorge side deep in the bottom half of the table and without a win since a 1-0 victory over Athletico-PR on February 19.
The Numbers Behind the Fall
Dorival’s overall record at Corinthians was respectable on paper: 25 wins, 19 draws, and 19 defeats in 63 matches, with 67 goals scored and 56 conceded. He delivered trophies — the 2025 Copa do Brasil, Corinthians’ first major domestic cup in years, and the 2026 Supercopa Rei. But his final stretch was catastrophic. The nine-game winless run — including the 3-0 humiliation at Red Bull Bragantino last week — eroded whatever goodwill the cup titles had built.
Sporting director Marcelo Paz, who joined Corinthians from Fortaleza, described the situation bluntly: “The work hit its ceiling.” He declined to take questions from the press. Dorival’s entire backroom staff — assistants Lucas Silvestre and Pedro Sotero and fitness coach Celso de Rezende — departed with him.
What Comes Next
Under-20 coach William Batista will take charge of Monday’s training session as interim manager. But attention has already turned to the permanent replacement — and the connection between Paz and Argentine coach Juan Pablo Vojvoda is the clearest thread. Vojvoda managed Fortaleza during Paz’s tenure as the club’s executive and built one of the most competitive sides in the Brasileirão. He has been available since being dismissed by Santos in March.
Dorival arrived at Corinthians in April 2025 fresh from managing the Brazilian national team, with a contract through the end of 2026. His departure follows a familiar pattern in Brazilian football — trophy-winning managers given little runway when results turn. For Corinthians, one of the country’s most demanding fanbases, nine games without a win at a club of this size is not a slump. It is an emergency. The next appointment will define whether the club’s 2026 season can be salvaged or whether the Brasileirão campaign is already beyond recovery.
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