The appeal of the Brazilian team, with its iconic yellow jerseys and samba football, remains powerful.
This Saturday night, 90,000 fans will pack Wembley Stadium to see how England measure up to the current Selecao stars.
But while the five-time world champions indeed retain their global appeal, an increasing number of Brazilian players past and present are making headlines for all the wrong reasons.
In recent days, Robinho has been sentenced to nine years in prison for gang rape, while Dani Alves faces four and a half years behind bars for raping a woman in a nightclub toilet.
They are just the latest footballers from the South American nation to be engulfed in scandal.
Former Brazil international Robinho will serve nine years in prison for his part in the gang-rape of a woman in an Italian nightclub in 2013
Former Barcelona defender Dani Alves has been sentenced to four years and six months in prison after being found guilty of rape – a sentence he plans to appeal.
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ROBINHO
Starting with the disgraced former Manchester City and Real Madrid forward, 40, who was told by judges on Wednesday that he must serve nine years in prison in Brazil for his part in a 2013 gang rape.
Robinho, who played for AC Milan at the time, was one of six men found guilty in 2017 of gang-raping a 22-year-old Albanian woman in a nightclub.
In January 2022, the Supreme Court in Rome rejected his final appeal of the sentence.
Italian authorities had asked for Robinho to be extradited from Brazil to serve his sentence – although that will not happen, judges in Brasilia decided he will instead be jailed in Brazil.
Robinho, who has played 100 times for the national team, has insisted he is innocent and plans to appeal the decision.
DANI ELVES
The verdict came on the same day that the former Brazilian defender Dani Alves was released on bail of 1 million.
Alves, 40, one of the most decorated footballers of all time, was found guilty last month of raping a woman in a bathroom at a Barcelona nightclub in the early hours of December 31, 2022.
He has been in Brians 2 prison in Barcelona since January 2023, but can now travel on bail while he awaits his final sentence.
Alves was sentenced last month to four and a half years in prison after a three-day trial
Dani Alves’ ex Joana Sanz (left) revealed she filed for divorce last year after the allegations against Alves came to light
Prosecutors had pushed for Alves to receive a nine-year sentence, with the player always maintaining his innocence and saying the sexual encounter was consensual.
His wife, model Joana Sanz, filed for divorce after his arrest.
In eight years with Barcelona, Alves won six LaLiga titles and the Champions League three times. He played 126 times for his country.
ANTONY
Manchester United winger Antony could have scored in Sunday’s dramatic FA Cup win over Liverpool but he is absent from the latest Brazil squad.
He was removed from the squad selected for Brazil’s World Cup qualifiers against Bolivia and Peru in September following allegations of domestic violence against ex-girlfriend Gabriela Cavallin.
The 24-year-old has not been selected since, with police investigations into the allegations still ongoing in both Manchester and Sao Paulo.
The police investigation into allegations of domestic violence against Manchester United and Brazilian winger Antony continues
Antony’s ex-girlfriend Gabriela Cavallin alleged that Antony assaulted her on four occasions
The player denies the allegations but voluntarily attended an interview with Greater Manchester Police last September.
Cavallin claims Antony assaulted her at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Manchester on January 15 last year and damaged one of her breast implants.
She also claims Antony cut her finger to the leg in June when he threw a glass at her.
RONALDINHO
The man whose free-kick knocked England out of the 2002 World Cup was embroiled in a fake passport scandal after ending his playing career in 2015.
In 2020, Ronaldinho – who enjoyed a glittering career with Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona and AC Milan – was arrested along with his brother Roberto de Assis when they traveled to Paraguay on a promotional tour.
The pair were found to have forged Paraguayan passports and IDs, although prosecutors believed Ronaldinho had no idea the documents were fake.
Brazilian legend Ronaldinho was arrested in Paraguay after using false documentation
Ronaldinho and his brother used fake passports and IDs to enter the country in 2020
While in prison, Ronaldinho played in a prison futsal tournament where his team won 11-2 in the final, with the former World Cup winner scoring five goals and setting up the other six.
After 32 days in the maximum security Asuncion prison – where Ronaldinho spent his 40th birthday – he was moved into a luxury hotel at $380 a night. night, otherwise empty in the middle of Covid quarantines, under house arrest.
News reports in South America claimed that despite the restrictions, Ronaldinho often welcomed guests and spent many evenings hosting karaoke parties.
The brothers were fined $200,000 as part of a plea bargain and eventually returned to Brazil.
ADRIANO
Striker Adriano, who played 48 times for the national team between 2000 and 2010, was accused of drug trafficking while his playing career was still underway.
In 2010, prosecutors alleged that Adriano had bought a motorcycle and given it to a known drug dealer in the Rio de Janeiro favela where he grew up.
Adriano, who was seen celebrating a goal for Brazil in 2006, was charged with drug trafficking
The bike was used for drug trafficking by a powerful criminal gang, it was alleged at the time, with Adriano facing a lengthy prison sentence if convicted.
But in 2014, Judge Maria Tereza Donatti dismissed the case because there was not enough evidence to sustain the charges.
EDMUNDO
The striker nicknamed ‘The Animal’ was certainly a controversial character.
In 1999, Edmundo was threatened with legal action by animal welfare groups after he hired an entire circus to perform in his backyard for his son’s first birthday.
At the party, he was pictured feeding beer and whiskey to an adidas tracksuit-wearing chimpanzee named Pedrinho.
Edmundo shares his beer with the chimpanzee Pedrinho during his son’s first birthday party
That same year, while playing for Italian club Fiorentina, Edmundo escaped a four-and-a-half-year prison sentence for drink-driving and causing the death of three people when his Jeep Cherokee crashed into a Fiat during the Rio Carnival.
He was convicted of “culpable homicide,” but an appeal drastically reduced his sentence to seven days’ probation.
HULK
The former Brazil striker certainly hit the headlines when it was revealed that he had married his ex-wife’s niece.
The 37-year-old, who plays for Atletico Mineiro in his home country, was previously married to Iran Angelo for 12 years. They had two sons, Ian and Tiago, and a daughter, Alice, together.
Former Brazilian striker Hulk stunned the world when he announced that he married Camila Angelo, the niece of his ex-wife
Hulk’s ex-wife Iran (left) and Iran’s niece (right) who married the Brazilian soccer player in 2020
But Hulk – full name Givanlido Vieira de Sousa – announced five months after their divorce in 2019 that he married Camila Angelo, his ex-wife’s niece.
A spokesman for the player said at the time: ‘Hulk called Camila’s parents and brother and told them the truth. It was Hulk himself who published the information because he had nothing to hide.’
The couple welcomed a daughter, Zaya, in April 2022, and announced in December that they are expecting a boy.