Brasileira Liga League Guide
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Breathtakingly beautiful and stunningly sexy – Brasileira futebol at its best. Notorious worldwide for its generally attractive football, Brazilian football has brought many legends past and present to our television screens whom have blessed us with outrageous talent and flair. The bint above? Aye shes pretty tasty too.
I’ve recently migrated to South American to endeavor the Brazilian leagues with Palmeiras. You’d be forgiven for turning your back on the country almost straight away as on first inspection it appears a very intricate and obscure league system, something most of us find far too disarranged to even consider venturing into. Once you get to grips however with the seemingly complex system it is a very enjoyable nation to manage in, rather competitive with heaps of talented players and something different from the norm we are used to in our home continent.
State Championships
Your season will start almost immediately with your participation in the State Championship. In Brazil with the top tier of Brazilian football (First Division loaded) you have four State Championships, these are largely self explanitory as the country is split into several states in which there are these state-wide competitions. Our good friend Wikipedia shares some knowledge with us in that the country was split into seperate states due to the long travelling between major cities meaning many areas developed a very strong competitive culture. On first outlook these State Championships seem almost useless but due to this competitive nature you are still expected to perform. Each Championship has its own format although typically runs from January through to April, I’ll give a quick run through of the format for each one which runs alongside the First Division below;
Sao Paolo State Championship – A fairly straight forward format whereby twenty teams are placed in a straight forward league system. Each team plays each other once thus the campaign lasts 19 games with fixtures being drawn randomly so whether you play the big teams at home or away is dependant on the luck of the draw. Following these nineteen games the bottom four teams will subsequently be relegated and the top four teams will enter a play off for the title. Despite as you may expect finishing first after all the league games have been played will not being home the trophy, the only advantage being it gives you a better position going into the playoffs are you play 4th placed leaving 2nd and 3rd to battle it out in the other semi final. Both the semi final and final are played over two legs and as you may be used to, away goals is not taken into consideration, instead if a draw is the end result after two legs extra time and penalties commence. Sao Paolo, Palmeiras, Corinthians and Santos are usually found battling it out in this league.
Rio State Championship – A not so straight forward format on first viewing. This State Championship is split into three main stages. Firstly you the opening stage, followed by the closing stage and then the finals. The opening stage sees two groups of eight teams formed. These groups are somewhat random however the top four teams in this state, Flamengo, Vasco, Fluminese and Botafogo are seeded with two going into one group and two in the latter. Each team plays each other team in their group once with the top two teams entering a semi final and thus a final. The closing stage mirrors the first whereby two groups of eight are formed in the same way and then a semi final and final commences. The winner of the two finals battle it out in a two legged final with the winner being crowned champion, however, if the same team wins both finals through the season they will automatically be crowned champions without the need for a final
Minas State Championship – This State Championship is home to Cruzeiro and Atletico Miniero whom appear to be the two most competitive teams in the league. The format is identical to that of the Sao Paolo State Championship although there is a lesser number of teams involved in the Minas State Championship. The format consists of twelve teams with each team playing each other once. The top four then qualify for the play off where the eventual winner of the playoffs will be crowned Champions.
Gaúcho State Championship – The final State Championship for the top tier and again a unique format from the others. The teams are split into two groups of 8 with each team in the groups playing each other twice. The top four teams from each group qualify for the play offs as the team stranded in bottom of each group are relegated. The play offs this time start at the quarter final stages with eight teams qualifying from the group stage. This is eventually narrowed down to the winner through two legged affairs from the quarters through to the final. One difference which will be noted however is the use of away goals, unlike in the others. If scores are level after two legs then the away goal rule will come into affect.
First Division
The First Division in Brazil isn’t as complex as some of the State Championships which appear before it. This competition is nationwide so is a lot more competitive than some of the State Championship’s as you have teams like Palmeiras, Sao Paolo, Internacional, Gremio, Flamengo, Corinthians to name a few battling it out. The league consists of twenty teams whom play each other twice and in this case the team places first will be crowned champions without the need for a playoff. This league runs from May through to December where a total of thirty eight games will be played. The top four teams in the league qualify for the Copa Libertadores group stages with 5th place also qualifying for the Copa Libertadores but will enter in the preliminary round. Teams placed 6th-13th qualify for the Copa Sudamericana, essentially the South American Uefa Cup. The bottom four teams will be relegated.
Copa do Brasil
The Brazilian Cup is also fairly straight forward although adopts an interesting concept. Teams playing in the Copa Libertadores (top five teams from the First Division) cannot enter the Brazilian Cup due to participation in the continental competition. This allows smaller teams a better chance of a run in the cup. The Brazilian Cup is like any other cup format whereby teams are drawn against each other in rounds until the final is reached a winner is crowned.
Copa Libertadores
The Copa Libertadores – The Champions League of South America. The competition every manager aims for. After the preliminary round is out the way we enter the group stages which is split into eight groups of four. Teams will play each other twice totalling six games and the top two will qualify for the second round. The second round is sorted by drawing the best placed first placed team with the worst qualifying second team, this is sorted by drawing up a league table of the first placed teams and a seperate league table for the second place teams. The team placed top of the first placed teams will play the team placed bottom of the second placed teams with second playing second bottom and so forth. After the draw for the second round has been made using this format the road to the final takes shape with a simple cup format. The winner of the Copa Libertadores qualifies for the Club World Championship which allowed you ply your trade against champions over the world including the Champions League winners!
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