Former Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is poised to travel to Brazil later this month, a trip that has intensified speculation over his next move in management just as his old club continue adjusting to life under new head coach Enzo Maresca.
Guardiola will attend Bahia’s Brasileirao fixture against Coritiba on 21 November, sitting alongside City Football Group chief executive Ferran Soriano.
The pair are due to fly first to Sao Paulo for a corporate engagement on 18 November before continuing on to Salvador three days later for the round-36 clash at the 48,902-capacity Arena Fonte Nova.
According to ESPN Brasil, the trip forms part of Guardiola’s duties as a global ambassador for City Football Group, the multi-club organisation he has represented since stepping down at the Etihad Stadium in May 2026 after a decade in charge.
It was under his management that City won six Premier League titles and the Champions League, before handing the reins to Maresca, the Italian who arrived from Chelsea to take on one of football’s most demanding jobs.
Bahia have been part of the City Football Group network since May 2023, when the conglomerate bought a 90 per cent stake in the Brazilian club’s sports company.
That deal placed the Salvador side in the same stable as Girona in Spain, New York City FC in Major League Soccer, Montevideo City Torque in Uruguay, and Manchester City themselves.
On the pitch, Bahia have enjoyed a productive campaign and currently sit sixth in the Brasileirao table with 53 points from 34 matches, occupying the final qualification berth for next year’s Copa Libertadores preliminary round.
A win over Coritiba would move them three points clear of seventh-placed Atletico Mineiro, though they remain a point behind fifth-placed Athletico Paranaense with four rounds left to play.
United States federation circling for successor
The Brazilian visit comes against the backdrop of growing interest from US Soccer, who are reportedly lining up Guardiola as their preferred candidate to take charge of the United States men’s national team.
The Athletic has reported that the federation intends to move for the Spaniard once Mauricio Pochettino completes an expected switch to Manchester United, a vacancy created by Michael Carrick’s recent sacking.
Guardiola’s name has reportedly featured prominently in the federation’s long-term succession planning, with officials said to have made contact with him as far back as 2024, before Pochettino was eventually appointed.
Pochettino himself is expected to fulfil his remaining obligations with the USMNT, including Nations League quarter-final ties against Haiti, before finalising a return to the Premier League that is said to involve a buyout clause in the region of $10 million.
Should that sequence of events play out, it would leave the United States searching for a new head coach less than two years out from co-hosting the 2026 World Cup. Guardiola represents an obvious marquee appointment for a federation eager to make a statement hire.
For now, though, Guardiola’s focus in Brazil is squarely on City Football Group business rather than the dugout.
His presence in Salvador underlines the scale of the City-owned network he continues to serve in an ambassadorial capacity, even as questions persist about when, or whether, he will return to frontline coaching.
