Campeonato Brasileiro

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The Campeonato Brasileiro (Portuguese for Brazilian Championship) is the name of the largest national championship of Brazilian football, organized by the CBF.

Brazilian clubs may also compete in other national tournaments of lesser significance, such as the Copa do Brasil, as well as tournaments at the continental, regional, and state level.

The competition was established in 1971 replacing two preceding national competitions, the Taça Brasil and the Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa. The Campeonato Brasileiro is also known in Brazil as "Brasileirão", which would translate to "Big Brazilian".

It is composed of 3 divisions:

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (first division)
Campeonato Brasileiro Série B (second division)
Campeonato Brasileiro Série C (third division)

[edit] Trivia

From 1980 to 1985, the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A was known as Taça de Ouro (Gold Cup), Série B was known as Taça de Prata (Silver Cup) and Série C was known as Taça de Bronze (Bronze Cup) and it had a curious promotion system: The top four clubs from Taça de Prata would enter the second round of Taça de Ouro right in the same season, while the 5th and 6th places would get promoted to Taça de Ouro in the next season.
Relegation was instituted only in the 1988 season. Previously, places in the championship were given based on performance on State championships or by invitation.
Round-robin format was only instituted in 2003. Before that, the season was divided in a regular season and a knockout round, similar to North American professional sports league, with rules being changed almost every year.