Brazil - Brasileirão

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The Brazilian Serie A Championship, popularly referred to as Brasileirao, is the top-tier football category in Brazil. Twenty teams play against each other year after year to be crowned as champions.

Just like most leagues in the world, this competition works under a promotion-relegation system. Each year, four teams with the lowest amount of points are relegated to Serie B, with four teams from that league earning their promotion. The team with the most points after 38 games gets to lift the trophy.

The Brasileirao’s current format was established in 2003. Previously, the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) forced the teams to play a regular season and a playoff stage, which made the tournament too long. The last adjustment to this format came in 2006, when the CBF brought down the number of teams from 22 to 20.

Added to the trophy, this tournament hands out several spots to play in CONMEBOL-sanctioned competitions. The four top teams get spots to play the group stage of the Copa Libertadores, while the 5th and 6th-placed teams enter the preliminary rounds in that same competition. The champion also gets to play the Copa Sudamericana, joined by those teams that finish the Brasileirao in 7th to 10th place.

There are twelve teams labeled as the greatest in Brazilian football, which are usually linked to some of the biggest games taking place in the Brasileirao. That list of teams includes Corinthians, Sao Paulo, Santos, Flamengo, Fluminense, Botafogo, Vasco da Gama, Cruzeiro, Atlético Mineiro, Gremio and Internacional. All of them have collected at least one international trophy.

The 2018 Brasileirao season ended with Palmeiras lifting the title. The “Verdao” side won their tenth title in this competition with their 80-point tally, which gave them an eight-point lead over runners up Flamengo. Clubs Sport Recife, América Mineiro, Vitoria and Paraná were relegated to Brazil’s Serie B, leaving their spots for CSA, Fortaleza, Avai and Goiás. Palmeiras is the most winning team in this competition with ten titles, followed by Santos, with eight trophies to their name.

The 2019 Brasileirao kicked off on April 28. The last match of the competition is scheduled to be played on December 8, 2018.

Did you know? Sao Paulo-based teams have won 32 of the 62 Brasileirao editions up to this date. Teams based in Rio de Janeiro have won 15 titles, followed by Minas Gerais’ teams with five titles.