| Countries | Brazil |
|---|---|
| Confederation | CONMEBOL |
| Founded | 1959 Foundation of the Taça Brasil 1967 Foundation of the Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa 1971(2003, in current format) Foundation of the Campeonato Brasileiro |
| Number of teams | 20 |
| Levels on pyramid | 1 |
| Relegation to | Série B |
| Domestic cup(s) | Copa do Brasil |
| International cup(s) | Copa Libertadores Copa Sudamericana |
| Current champions | Corinthians (2011, 5th title) |
| Most championships | Palmeiras Santos (8 titles each) |
| TV partners | Rede Globo Rede Bandeirantes SporTV PFC |
| Website | Official Site |
| 2012 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A | |
The Campeonato Brasileiro de Clubes da Série A (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈsɛɾji ˈa]), popularly known as the Brasileirão (pronounced: [bɾazilejˈɾɐ̃w]), is a professional football league at the top of the Brazilian football league system held annually since 1959. Contested by twenty clubs, it operates a system of promotion and relegation with the Série B. The season runs from May to December of the same year, with teams playing 38 matches each, totalling 380 matches in the season. Due to sponsorship reasons, the league is known as the Brasileirão Petrobras.
Due to historical peculiarities and the large geographical size of the country, Brazil has a relatively short history of nation-wide football competitions. The modern Campeonato Brasileiro only started in 1971, supported by the military regime of the time and made easier by the advancements in civil aviation and air transport. Before the establishment of a national league the most prestigious football competitions in Brazil were the state leagues, notably the Campeonato Paulista and Campeonato Carioca state championships (the tournaments of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro states). Most state competitions have a much longer history than the national competition and, consequently, the various state leagues were considered more prestigious than the national league during the first years.
Since 1959, seventeen clubs have been crowned Brazilian football champions. With eight titles each, the most successful clubs are Palmeiras and Santos. The current champions are Corinthians, who won the 2011 season.
Contents |
| Tournament names[1] | |
|---|---|
| Taça Brasil | 1959–1968 |
| Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa | 1967–1970 |
| Campeonato Nacional de Clubes | 1971–1974 |
| Copa Brasil | 1975–1980 |
| Taça de Ouro | 1981–1983 |
| Copa Brasil (again) | 1984–1986 |
| Copa União | 1987–1988 |
| Campeonato Brasileiro da Série A | 1989–1999 |
| Copa João Havelange | 2000 |
| Campeonato Brasileiro da Série A (again) | 2001–Today |
Between 1959 and 1970, two national championships existed to provide Brazilian representatives to Copa Libertadores. These were the Taça Brasil (1959–1968) and the Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa (1967–1970).
The current Campeonato Brasileiro was created in 1971 using the structure of Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa. The system used until 1987 was similar to FIFA World Cup or UEFA Champions League: the best clubs of each State Championship were separated in several small groups. Then the best of each group played the play-offs. But every year some aspects of format, number of entrants and rules changed.
In 1979, all big clubs from São Paulo, except Palmeiras, withdrew from competition. They protested against the odd system of tier qualification which made their rivals, Palmeiras and Guarani, enter only in the final phase (due to them being previous-year finalists) and also asking for the same privileges. Indeed oddly enough, Guarani finished in the top 12 playing only 3 games and Palmeiras finished third despite playing only 5 games in a tournament with 96 entrants.
In 1984, Juventus, a small club from São Paulo, managed to qualify for the Série A. Participants of that year could be promoted from and relegated to Série B in the middle of the tournament. Juventus thus started the tournament in the premiership, was relegated in the middle of the tournament but eventually managed to clinch the Série B title. Despite this the team was not promoted to Série A in the following year and failed to qualify to it from the state championship.
In 1987 the 13 biggest clubs of Brazil founded an association called Clube dos 13, in order to make their own commercial arrangements without CBF's mediation. As a result, these clubs broke up with CBF and organized their own parallel league called Copa União, which replaced the old system which classified the state champions for the national championship. Immediately FIFA intervened threatening clubs and National Team to ban them from participating in international competitions. So Clube dos 13 accept to make a competition with CBF but maintaining Copa União format. In the final of the championship a disagreement along the system resulted in two champions: Sport Recife, supported by CBF and the Justice, and Flamengo, supported by Club dos 13 and a great part of media. From 1988 to 2003 Copa União system continued to be used with some changes every year. On February 21st, 2011, CBF finally recognized Flamengo as the 1987 national champions, along with Sport Recife, which gives Flamengo a total of six titles, tied with São Paulo.[2]
In 1999, an averaging relegation system similar to the one used in the Primera División Argentina was adopted. The two clubs with the worst point results in the first stage of the two previous seasons were to be relegated. However, this system only lasted for a single season. During the first stage it was discovered that one player was registered with false documents. Due to this scandal CBF decided to punish the player's team cancelling the games in which this player took part. Due to this, the average points of some clubs were changed so one club lost positions and was relegated. This club immediately sued CBF, so this institution was prevented to host 2000 Brasileirão. In light of this, Clube dos 13 organized the championship of that year.
Before 2003, the format of Série A changed almost every year; for specifics, see Campeonato Brasileiro tournament scheduling. Since 2003, the Série A has been contested in a double round-robin format and the team with most points is declared champion. There is no final match, which is a very controversial subject. Prior to 2003, the Brazilian championship had traditionally been decided with some type of playoff format (most commonly the "Octagonal", where the top 8 regular season teams comprise a single elimination tournament), rather than the European model of points accumulation over a season. Although some purists complain that this system lacks the dramatic scenes of playoffs and finals, the competition has so far shown to be well balanced, without a small number of clubs dominating the league, a phenomenon often found in many European leagues.
Eleven matches of the 2005 competition were annulled due to a match-fixing scandal and had to be replayed.
For the 2006 season, the number of contestants was reduced to 20 and CBF claims it to be the "definitive" format. In 2006, a limit on the number of foreign players was set, such that no team can have more than three foreign players on the field or on the bench in a single match. The seasons with the largest number of entrants of the competition were: 2000 (116 entrants), 1979 (94 entrants) and 1986 (80 entrants).
In 2010, CBF decided to declare the champions of the defuncts Taça Brasil and Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa as Brazilian Champions, as are called the team that win the Série A
Twenty clubs compete in the Série A. Since the 2003 season, the league began using a double round-robin format as the competition format. Each team plays the other clubs twice, once at home and once away, for a total of 38 games. Teams receive three points for a win, one point for a draw, and zero for a loss. Teams are ranked by points, with the team with the most points at the end of the season crowned the champion. If teams are tied in points, wins then goal difference determine the ranking. The four lowest teams in the rankings are relegated to the Série B.
The top four teams in rankings qualify for the following season's Copa Libertadores. Teams ranked 1 to 3 enter in the Second Stage, with the team ranked 4 entering in the First Stage. The next eight teams in the rankings qualify to the following season's Copa Sudamericana, with all those teams entering in the Second Stage. Should any of the qualified teams win the Copa do Brasil in the same season, their berths are awarded to the next ranked teams.
Prêmio Craque do Brasileirão is the league's official award. Placar magazine's Bola de Ouro is the oldest award, while the Troféu Osmar Santos and the Troféu João Saldanha are awards given by the newspaper Lance!.
| Club | Number of titles | Titles |
|---|---|---|
| Palmeiras | 8 | Taça Brasil (1960, 1967), Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa (1967, 1969), Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (1972, 1973, 1993, 1994) |
| Santos | 8 | Taça Brasil (1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965), Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa (1968), Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (2002, 2004) |
| São Paulo | 6 | Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (1977, 1986, 1991, 2006, 2007, 2008) |
| Flamengo | 5 | Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (1980, 1982, 1983, 1992, 2009) |
| Corinthians | 5 | Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (1990, 1998, 1999, 2005, 2011) |
| Vasco da Gama | 4 | Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (1974, 1989, 1997, 2000) |
| Fluminense | 3 | Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa (1970), Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (1984, 2010) |
| Internacional | 3 | Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (1975, 1976, 1979) |
| Bahia | 2 | Taça Brasil (1959), Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (1988) |
| Botafogo | 2 | Taça Brasil (1968), Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (1995) |
| Cruzeiro | 2 | Taça Brasil (1966), Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (2003) |
| Grêmio | 2 | Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (1981, 1996) |
| Atlético Mineiro | 1 | Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (1971) |
| Atlético Paranaense | 1 | Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (2001) |
| Coritiba | 1 | Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (1985) |
| Guarani | 1 | Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (1978) |
| Sport | 1 | Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (1987*) |
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