Clube dos 13

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Clube dos 13 (Club of Thirteen) is the organization responsible for representing the interest of the 20 greatest football clubs of Brazil. The organization negotiates radio and television rights of competitions such as the Campeonato Brasileiro. Also Clube dos 13 is responsible for providing a unified voice in negotiations with CBF about the format of the Brazilian competitions.

It was founded on July 11, 1987 by representatives of the 13 most traditional clubs hence the organization's name.

As of 2005, the organization is composed of 20 members.

Clube dos 13 organized two national competitions: 1987 Copa União and 2000 Copa João Havelange.

1 1987 Copa União
2 2000 Copa João Havelange
3 Founding Members
4 New Members
5 External link

[edit] 1987 Copa União

Main article: Copa União

The Clube dos 13 teams were dissatisfied with CBF, and so they organized their own championship independently of the CBF. Copa União was contested between sixteen teams: the thirteen founding members of Clube dos 13 and three invited teams (Coritiba, Goiás and Santa Cruz).

The first phase of Copa União was divided in two stages, and the teams were divided in two groups of eight teams (Group A and Group B). Both stages were played in a single round-robin format. In the first stage the teams from one group played against the teams of the other group. In the second stage, the teams played inside their own groups. The winners of the two groups from both stages qualified to the semifinal phase. The seminals and the finals were played in two legs.

The competition was not recognized by CBF. CBF invited the winner and runner-up of Copa União, Flamengo and Internacional, respectively to play against CBF's competition winner and runner-up (Sport Recife and Guarani), but the proposal was refused. So, CBF did not recognize Flamengo and Internacional as champions and runners-up and neither did it invite them to play Copa Libertadores.

[edit] 2000 Copa João Havelange

Clube dos 13 organized this competition, and CBF ratified it. The competition did not obey the promotion and relegation rules of 1999 Campeonato Brasileiro. The championship was created because Gama, in the 1999 championship contested and won in a common justice court and reverted its relegation. After Gama withdrew its protests in the common justice, the team was included in the championship.

The championship's first phase was divided in four modules (Blue, Yellow, Green and White), based on the popularity and tradition of the 114 participating teams. To the final phase, the 12 better placed teams of the Blue module, 3 from the Yellow module and 1 qualified from the Green and White playoffs played the Eighthfinals. The next round was the Quarterfinals, them the semifinals and the finals, played by São Caetano and Vasco da Gama. The competition was won by Vasco da Gama.

The competition was named after former FIFA president João Havelange.