Pep Guardiola Set to Attend Bahia Fixture With Ferran Soriano Amid Growing USMNT Speculation

Pep Guardiola Set to Attend Bahia Fixture With Ferran Soriano Amid Growing USMNT Speculation Guardiola, 55, left Manchester City in May after 10 seasons in charge, during which he won 20 major trophies, including six Premier League titles and the club's first Champions League crown in 2022-23. The Spaniard has since taken up an ambassador and technical adviser role with City Football Group, the parent company of City and its sister clubs around the world, whilst Enzo Maresca succeeded him at the Etihad Stadium in June. City Football Group completed its takeover of Brazilian side Bahia in 2023, and the group now holds a 90 percent stake in the club's football company, with Rogerio Ceni currently in charge of the first team in Salvador. Guardiola and Soriano set for Fonte Nova visit on November 21 As reported by ge , Guardiola is due to attend Bahia's Brazilian Serie A meeting with Coritiba at the Arena Fonte Nova on Saturday 21 November, alongside City Football Group and Manchester City chief executive Ferran Soriano. The fixture falls in the 36th round of the Brazilian top-flight, with the visit understood to fulfil an invitation that Guardiola had been asking for since the takeover in 2023. Further reports in Brazil suggest the pair will also tour Bahia's training ground, the club's headquarters and the Arena Fonte Nova itself, as well as meeting Ceni, who travelled to England in January 2025 to watch Guardiola's sessions at City. Their trip is expected to begin in Sao Paulo on Wednesday 18 November, when Soriano is scheduled to speak at an annual business dinner on City Football Group's investments in Brazil and leadership in football, with Guardiola also due to attend. Bahia sit sixth in the Brazilian Serie A table with 53 points, and Ceni's side are pushing to secure a place in the qualification spots for the 2027 Copa Libertadores in the closing weeks of the campaign. Guardiola's role with City Football Group involves promoting the multi-club network and working on specific projects across its clubs, whilst the 55-year-old has also been linked with the Italy and United States National Team jobs since leaving the Etihad Stadium. The visit to Salvador will take place on the same day that Manchester City host Fulham at the Etihad Stadium in their first game back from the international break, as Maresca looks to end a run of three straight Premier League defeats. Defeats to Aston Villa , Brighton and Hove Albion and Nottingham Forest have left City six points behind Arsenal  - and Maresca has vowed to resolve the problems in the two-week pause. Soriano addressed club staff directly after an independent commission's guilty verdict on 114 of 115 charges was published on 29 September, rejecting the findings and pledging that the club would be relentless in its work, before Manchester City lodged a comprehensive appeal at October 1. The sanctions phase of the case is yet to begin, with sources having suggested that a full resolution of the process may not arrive until 2028 or 2029 at the earliest.