World Cup participations: 17 (1930, 1934, 1938, 1950, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002)

World Cup honours: 5-time FIFA World Cup winners (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002), 2-time FIFA World Cup runners-up (1950, 1998), twice finished in 3rd place (1938, 1978)

Continental Titles: Copa America 7 times (1919, 1922, 1949, 1989, 1993, 1997, 1999), Pan American Cup 4 times (1963, 1975 with Mexico, 1979, 1987)

Brazil can rightly lay claim to being called the kings of football. They have lifted the FIFA World Cup on five occasions.
Brazil won their first FIFA World Cup title in 1958 in Sweden with a team which included a 17-year-old legend-in-the-making by the name of Pelé.

Forgotten in the aftermath of Brazil's impressive fifth FIFA World Cup win was the struggle that the Seleçao went through to even reach the finals of Korea/Japan 2002. The squad lost in the qualifying to Paraguay, Chile, Ecuador, Uruguay, Argentina and Bolivia but in the end the "three R's" of Rivaldo, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho led the side through to the finals. Many players from Luis Felipe Scolari's will still be in the squad but new faces aresure to be included too. The defensive midfield will probably be reinforced to cover the attacking Roberto Carlos and Cafu, and the strikers may not be allowed the freedom of movement that they had in the last World Cup. However, the Brazilian defence appears to finally be more reliable. Brazil are eager to defend their world title and consider the Confederations Cup a chance to prove their supremacy. Coach Carlos Albertp Parreria said he plans to win the Confederations Cup by bringing a full-strength squad to Germany.