Soccer-Brazil coach Tite to stand down after World Cup finals

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Tite has confirmed that he will step down as Brazil's head coach after this year's World Cup finals in Qatar.

The 60-year-old took over in 2016 and helped Brazil qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, where they were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Belgium.

He has always said he wanted to take charge of the team for one full "cycle" -- from one World Cup until the next -- and confirmed that in an interview with Brazilian broadcaster Sportv on Friday.

"I'll stay on until the end of the World Cup," he said. "There's no reason for me to lie about it here."

"I've won everything in my career and all that's left is the World Cup."

A former manager of Corinthians, Gremio and Internacional, he has led Brazil in 70 games, winning 51 and losing only five.

He led Brazil to the Copa America title on home soil in 2019 but was also in charge last year at home when Brazil went down to Argentina in the final.

That 1-0 defeat is Brazil's only loss since November 2019.

Brazil go into the finals in Qatar as one of the favourites. They were one of the first teams to qualify for the tournament which begins on Nov. 21 and are unbeaten in the South American qualifying section.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Viga Gaier; writing by Andrew Downie, editing by Pritha Sarkar)