Brazilian Scolari was in charge of his country when they won the 2002 World Cup and O Globo claimed Brazil's football confederation president Ricardo Texeira handed him a chance to take the post for a second time.

The newspaper said the offer was made after Portugal's World Cup third-place play-off defeat against Germany last week, but Scolari apparently refused the chance to replace Carlos Alberto Parreira for family reasons.

Although Parreira remains in charge he is likely to be sacked, if he does not resign first, in the aftermath of Brazil's disappointing World Cup campaign, which ended with a quarterfinal defeat against France.

The confederation want a new man in charge before August 1, when they face Norway in a friendly fixture.