PBR | Draft dreams: Brazil’s best battle at the 2026 PBR Teams Combine

02.25.26 - News

Draft dreams: Brazil’s best battle at the 2026 PBR Teams Combine

At the 2026 PBR Teams Combine in Brazil, 49 riders endured three grueling days for one opportunity — to hear their name called in this summer’s draft and chase the American dream.

By Harper Lawson

BRAZIL — Six thousand seventy miles from T-Mobile Arena — where a champion will be crowned at the 2026 PBR Teams Championship this fall — bull riders were already preparing.

Because before the confetti falls in Las Vegas, before one team hoists the buckle, there will be a PBR Teams 2026 Draft.

And for 49 Brazilian cowboys gathered inside a sunbaked arena in São Paulo state, the draft isn’t just a date on the calendar.

It’s the reason they showed up.

It’s the reason they left home.

It’s the reason they climbed aboard another bull when their bodies were already aching.

The 2026 PBR Teams Combine in Brazil began long before the first chute gate cracked. It began with bus rides that lasted days. With five- and six-day drives across the countryside. With motorcycles humming down red dirt roads before sunrise. Some of the riders came from cattle country. Some from small towns with a hospital with no X-ray machine. Some from places where opportunity is a rumor more than a promise.

All of them came chasing the same thing: a name called on draft night.

By the time the first notes of Aaron Watson, George Strait and Shania Twain rolled across the speakers, you could almost forget you were in Brazil. The dirt was groomed and packed just right. The PBR Brazil bullfighter safety team stood alert in the arena. Coaches and general managers from across the league lined the fence, evaluating every move.

For a moment, it felt like you were back in the States — especially for the guys who’ve already made that leap.

Until the gate swung open.

The first bull burst into the arena — a massive Brahma-type bovine with a towering hump over its shoulders and horns that curved high toward the sky like sharpened crescents. These bulls were different. Mean on the ground. Eyes locked in. They stood so tall in the chutes their humps nearly grazed the top rail, long legs ready to fire. When the gate cracked, they launched with a sweeping first jump, covering ground fast and forcing riders to be sharp and fully prepared from the very first move.

And yet, once they bucked a man off, they turned and trotted back toward the chutes. Rarely hunting. Rarely looking for vengeance. Just doing their job — athletically efficient.

This wasn’t just another Brazilian rodeo. This was an audition for the big stage.

With 32 new riders eligible for the 2026 Draft and 19 unrestricted free agents who could be signed on the spot, jobs weren’t theoretical, they were sitting right there in the chutes.

Every rider there understood what the draft means. It means a plane ticket. A visa. A locker room. A team. A chance to compete under bright lights in places they’ve only seen on television. Bull riding, for many of them, is not just sport. It’s escape. Out of poverty. Out of life’s situations. Out to see the world. Out to build something better for their families.

Among the 49 hopefuls were two living examples of what happens when your name is called.

Rogério Silva Venâncio, now a member of the Nashville Stampede, leaned over the chutes offering quiet advice. So did Gustavo Luiz da Silva, also riding for the Stampede. “Roger” and “Gus” both built successful careers in PBR Brazil before earning their shot in the United States. Both know what that draft moment feels like — the call that changes everything.

Venâncio wasn’t just watching.

He himself was climbing into the chutes every chance he got — because bull riders don’t really “observe.” They might say they’re just helping or offering advice, but sooner or later that itch hits, and the only cure is nodding your head.

Over and over again.

As more than 300 bulls bucked across the three-day stretch, Venâncio was one of the riders who kept climbing aboard, treating the combine like his own personal practice pen.

But also proof. If the young guys were watching, he wanted them to see it firsthand: in the States, the coaching, the teammates around you, even the caliber of bulls you face — it all sharpens you. It doesn’t just make you better. It can make you great.

And while that lesson was unfolding in the arena, coaches kept scribbling notes. General managers leaned in and spoke quietly among themselves. The draft board — invisible but very real — was already starting to take shape.

And then there was the 23-year-old in the green chaps and matching vest — looking younger than his years, but carrying himself like he belonged. When he stepped onto the chutes, the New York leadership perked up.

Leonardo Zampollo. His last name carries some weight.

His older brother, Leandro Zampollo, currently rides for the New York Mavericks and sits 11th in the 2026 Unleash The Beast standings. But that’s not the full story.

Before the lights and the flights overseas. Before the rankings. Before the U.S. arenas.

Leandro helped raise his two younger brothers in Brazil. They didn’t have it easy. Long days. Limited means. Big dreams.

Now, Leonardo — the middle brother — has his chance.

Not just to write his own story in America.

But to reunite part of his family on U.S. soil.

That possibility hung in the air the entire combine.

By the end of Day 3, the wear showed everywhere — shoulders wrenched loose and taped tight, feet propped up on folding chairs, hands, ankles and legs wrapped in athletic tape, ice packs balanced on elbows between outs.

A few shoulders had popped halfway out earlier in the week before being shoved back into place, and nobody made a production of it. The combine had fully taken its toll — bruises deepening into purples, fingers so swollen some riders could barely close their grip — but they kept climbing back in anyway.

Because this was serious.

After Saturday morning’s outs, the field was trimmed to 26, each one handpicked by the coaches and general managers to return that afternoon for the short round — one last, deliberate look before draft boards start to lock in.

The American dream in boots and spurs was on the line for these young men.

As the last bull of the weekend stormed back to the chutes and the dust finally settled, there were no promises made.

Just 49 young men who had poured every ounce of themselves into three relentless days, hoping their name will echo through a draft room this summer.

Six thousand seventy miles away, a trophy waits in Las Vegas.

But before that championship is decided, another future will be.

And somewhere in Brazil tonight, a cowboy is icing his shoulder, replaying his best ride in his mind, believing that the next time he hears his name called, it won’t be prefaced with Portuguese.

It’ll be after a long flight, and it’ll be on draft night.

Below are the final-day results from the 26 riders selected by coaches and general managers to compete in Saturday’s last round.

Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026 — Round 6