Lucas Paquetá is going to the World Cup in North America, and this call-up lands with the force of a second career beginning. The 28-year-old left-footed midfielder has been named for the 2026 tournament after rebuilding his place in Brazil’s squad, then returning to Flamengo and turning that homecoming into another strong run.
Paquetá’s rise started at Flamengo, where he stood out in the club’s 2017 Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior title and its Campeonato Carioca triumph before making his Brazil debut under Tite in 2018. He went on to play 61 matches for the national team and score 13 goals, putting his name on a list few Brazilians can match.
He was in Brazil’s 2019 Copa América-winning squad. He then made decisive contributions on the road to Qatar, scoring in the 2-0 win over Peru in September 2021 that sealed World Cup qualification and finding the net again while controlling midfield in a 4-0 win over Chile at the Maracanã in March 2022. At the 2022 World Cup, he started against Serbia, Switzerland and South Korea, and also played in the quarterfinal defeat to Croatia. Brazil’s 4-1 win over South Korea in that tournament was one of his standout performances.
The return to the Seleção was not automatic. Paquetá had been away from the national team after a case involving alleged betting-market involvement while he was at West Ham in England, and in 2023 he was removed from Fernando Diniz’s squad after being linked to Football Association investigations into alleged betting manipulation involving yellow cards in Premier League matches. That situation cost him three consecutive Brazil call-ups. He returned in March 2024 under Dorival Júnior, later joined Brazil’s 2024 Copa América squad, and was cleared in 2025.
His football moved back toward the place where it began in 2026, when he returned to Flamengo in a deal estimated at R$260 million, the most expensive transfer in Brazilian football history. The move mattered on and off the field: Paquetá played 20 matches, scored 7 goals and helped Flamengo win the Campeonato Carioca. For a player who also spent time at Milan, Olympique Lyonnais and West Ham after leaving Rio in 2018, the homecoming gave Brazil a version of Paquetá that was both familiar and sharpened by years abroad.
What comes next is the part he has been chasing since Qatar: a second World Cup, this time with the pressure of experience instead of novelty. Brazil is bringing back a player who has already been decisive in qualifying, already been tested in the tournament and already shown that his path back from exile can run straight through the center of the team.
