Campeonato Brasileiro Série A facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Campeonato Brasileiro Série A

Organising body	Brazilian Football Confederation
Founded	1971; 54 years ago (1971)
Country	Brazil
Confederation	CONMEBOL
Number of teams	20 (since 2006)
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Série B
Domestic cup(s)	Copa do Brasil Supercopa do Brasil
International cup(s)	Copa Libertadores Copa Sudamericana
Current champions	Palmeiras (12th title) (2023)
Most championships	Palmeiras (12 titles)
Most appearances	Fábio (665)
Top goalscorer	Roberto Dinamite (190)
TV partners	List of broadcasters

The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, often called the Brasileirão, is Brazil's top professional football league for men's clubs. It's the main football competition in the country. Twenty clubs compete in the league. Teams can move up or down between the Brasileirão and the Série B (the second division). In 2021, a group called the IFFHS said it was the strongest national league in South America and even the strongest in the world!

Brazil didn't have a national football league for a long time. This was because the country is so big and travel was difficult. Instead, each state had its own championship. In 1959, with better air travel, the Taça Brasil was created. This was the first national tournament. Later, in 1967, another national tournament called the Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa started. The first league actually called "Campeonato Brasileiro" began in 1971.

For many years, the rules and number of teams in the Brazilian Championship changed almost every season. Sometimes, teams didn't even move up or down divisions. The number of clubs varied a lot, with 92 teams playing in 1979! The league finally got a standard format in 2006. Now, 20 clubs play each other twice (home and away) in a "round-robin" system.

In 2010, the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) decided that the winners of the old Taça Brasil and Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa tournaments were also official Brazilian champions. This means some clubs have more titles now.

The Campeonato Brasileiro is known as one of the strongest leagues globally. Brazilian clubs have won the second-highest number of club world championships (10 titles) and Copa Libertadores titles (22 titles). It's the most-watched football league in the Americas and is shown in 155 countries. It's also one of the richest leagues, worth over US$1.43 billion.

Since 1959, 156 clubs have played in the Campeonato Brasileiro. Seventeen clubs have won the championship. Palmeiras is the most successful club with twelve titles. Santos has eight titles, and Corinthians and Flamengo each have seven. Santos famously won five titles in a row from 1961 to 1965. The state of São Paulo has won the most titles overall, with 34 championships shared among five clubs.

History of Brazilian Football Championships

Early Days and State Leagues

São Paulo Athletic Club and CA Paulistano in the final of the first São Paulo State Championship in 1902

Football came to Brazil in 1894, brought by Charles Miller from England. It quickly became very popular! In 1902, Miller helped start the first football league in Brazil, the Liga Paulista de Foot-Ball. This league was only for teams in the State of São Paulo.

Because Brazil is so huge and travel was hard, it was almost impossible to create a national league back then. So, other states followed São Paulo's lead and started their own state championships. These state leagues were the most important competitions for a long time.

First National Tournaments

The Taça Brasil trophy.

As football grew, people wanted to see teams from different states play each other. The first real national club championship was the Taça Brasil (Brazil Cup), started in 1959. It was a knockout tournament, meaning teams were eliminated after losing. The winner would represent Brazil in the new Copa Libertadores. The first winner was Bahia, which was a big surprise!

In 1967, another tournament, the Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa, became national. It was also called the Robertão. This tournament used a "round-robin" system, where teams played each other in groups. In 2010, the CBF officially said that the winners of both the Taça Brasil and the Robertão were Brazilian champions.

Changes and New Formats

After Brazil won its third World Cup in 1970, the government wanted to make Brazilian football even better. They decided to create a new national championship in 1971, with 20 teams, like the leagues in Europe. This was called the "Campeonato Nacional de Clubes."

Over the next few years, the number of teams in the championship grew a lot. By 1979, there were 92 teams! This made the competition very big and sometimes confusing. From 1975, it was officially called "Copa Brasil."

In 1980, the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) was created. They changed the championship again, making it smaller and introducing a "promotion and relegation" system. This meant that the worst teams in the top division would move down to the second division, and the best teams from the second division would move up. In 1989, the league was first called "Série A," like the Italian league.

Modern Era: Stable and Strong

Tifo organized by Corinthians supporters to celebrate its 6th title after winning the 2015 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A

For many years, the Brazilian Championship kept changing its rules and format. But in 2002, the clubs decided to adopt a stable "round-robin" format, like many European leagues. This means all teams play each other twice, home and away, and the team with the most points at the end wins.

The first season with this new format was in 2003, with 24 clubs. Cruzeiro won that year, making history by winning the league, the Copa do Brasil, and their state championship all in one year! The number of clubs was later set to 20 in 2006, which is how it is today. The season runs from May to December. The top four teams qualify for the Copa Libertadores, and the bottom four teams are relegated to Série B. This format has stayed the same ever since, making the league more stable and exciting.

In 2008, the CBF also created the Série D, which is the fourth division. This means there are now four national divisions in Brazilian football.

How the Competition Works

Playing the Games

There are 20 clubs in the Brasileirão. The season runs from May to December. Each club plays every other club twice: once at their home stadium and once at the opponent's stadium. This means each team plays a total of 38 games.

• Teams get three points for a win.
• They get one point for a draw (a tie).
• They get no points for a loss.

Teams are ranked by their total points. If teams have the same points, other things are checked, like how many games they won or their goal difference (goals scored minus goals against). If there's still a tie for the championship or for relegation, they might play an extra match to decide.

Moving Up and Down

The Brasileirão has a system of promotion and relegation with the Série B (the second division).

• The four teams with the fewest points in the Brasileirão at the end of the season are moved down to Série B.
• The top four teams from Série B are moved up to the Brasileirão for the next season.

Playing in International Cups

Peñarol vs Santos in the Centenario Stadium of Montevideo during the 2011 Copa Libertadores Finals.

The top teams in the Brasileirão also get to play in big international competitions:

• The top six clubs usually qualify for the next Copa Libertadores. This is South America's biggest club competition. The top four go straight to the group stage, and the fifth and sixth-placed teams enter an earlier round.
• Teams from seventh to twelfth place usually qualify for the Copa Sudamericana, another important South American club tournament.
• The number of teams that qualify can change if a Brazilian team wins the Copa do Brasil, Copa Sudamericana, or Copa Libertadores.

Brazilian Football Champions

Seventeen clubs have officially won the Brazilian football championship. Here are the most successful ones:

Club	Titles	Years won
Palmeiras	12	1960, 1967, 1967, 1969, 1972, 1973, 1993, 1994, 2016, 2018, 2022, 2023
Santos	8	1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1968, 2002, 2004
Corinthians	7	1990, 1998, 1999, 2005, 2011, 2015, 2017
Flamengo	7	1980, 1982, 1983, 1992, 2009, 2019, 2020
São Paulo	6	1977, 1986, 1991, 2006, 2007, 2008
Cruzeiro	4	1966, 2003, 2013, 2014
Vasco da Gama	4	1974, 1989, 1997, 2000
Fluminense	4	1970, 1984, 2010, 2012
Internacional	3	1975, 1976, 1979
Atlético Mineiro	3	1937, 1971, 2021
Grêmio	2	1981, 1996
Botafogo	2	1968, 1995
Bahia	2	1959, 1988
Guarani	1	1978
Athletico Paranaense	1	2001
Coritiba	1	1985
Sport Recife	1	1987

Names and Sponsors

The Campeonato Brasileiro has had many different names over the years before it became "Campeonato Brasileiro" in 1989.

• The official name was Copa Brasil, but it became known as Copa União.

League Finances

The Brasileirão is a very valuable football league. In 2012, clubs in the league earned over US$1.17 billion. This made it the league with the highest earnings in the Americas, and one of the highest outside of Europe's biggest leagues.

The league's marketing value was over US$1.24 billion in 2013. The money from television rights is a huge part of this. In 2012, TV rights were worth over US$610 million!

Clubs in the Brasileirão

Here are the 20 clubs competing in the Série A during the 2024 season.

^a: Clubs that have never been relegated.
^b: Clubs that have always played in the top division.

Most Appearances by Clubs

Many clubs have played in the Campeonato Brasileiro over the years. Here are the ones with the most seasons in the top division:

All-Time League Table

This table shows the overall performance of all teams that have played in the Brazilian League since 1937 and 1959. Teams in bold are playing in the top division in 2024.

Media Coverage

Television money is very important for Brazilian football clubs. The main TV company that shows the Brasileirão is Grupo Globo. They show games on their regular TV channel (TV Globo), on paid TV (SporTV), and through a special pay-per-view service (Premiere FC).

Globo first showed the league in 1987. Over the years, the amount of money paid for TV rights has grown a lot, helping the clubs earn more. For example, in 2016-2019, the rights were worth R$4.11 billion!

Sometimes, other TV channels have also shown games. In 2016, a channel called Esporte Interativo made a deal with some clubs to show their games, which was different from Globo's usual exclusive deal.

Match Ball

2019 Nike Merlin CBF

Since 1999, the official ball for the Brazilian league has been made by Nike. Before that, other brands like Umbro and Topper supplied the balls. The most recent ball is called the CBF Nike Brasil Flight 2023.

Attendance at Games

The number of fans who go to Brasileirão games changes each year. The highest average attendance was in 1983, with about 22,953 fans per game. The lowest was in 2004, with only 7,556 fans on average.

Compared to other football leagues around the world, the Brasileirão is usually ranked around 14th for attendance. The smallest crowd ever was only 55 fans at a game in 1997! But the largest crowd was huge: 155,523 fans watched a game between Flamengo and Santos in 1983.

In 2019, the average attendance was 21,230 fans per game.

Players and Records

Most Appearances

These players have played the most games in the Campeonato Brasileiro:

Top Goal Scorers

These players have scored the most goals in the Campeonato Brasileiro:

Notes:

• Bold means players still playing in the Brazilian Série A.

Assists per Season

Players who made the most assists (passes that lead to a goal) each season:

• 2023 - Hulk (Atlético-MG) & Luis Suárez (Grêmio) 11 assists
• 2022 - Gustavo Scarpa (Palmeiras) 12 assists
• 2021 - Gustavo Scarpa (Palmeiras) 13 assists
• 2020 - Arrascaeta (Flamengo), Keno (Atlético-MG) & Vinicius (Ceará) 9 assists
• 2019 - Arrascaeta (Flamengo) 14 assists

Awards and Trophies

There are special awards given out each year for the best players and teams in the league. The main official award is the Prêmio Craque do Brasileirão. Other awards include the Bola de Ouro from Placar magazine, and the Troféu Osmar Santos and Troféu João Saldanha from the newspaper Lance!.

Images for kids

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  Garrincha playing for Botafogo in the 1960s

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  Group photo of the 1978 Guarani squad, winners of the 1978 Campeonato Nacional de Clubes.

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  The 1970 Taça de Prata awarded to Fluminense

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  Zico playing for Flamengo at the 1981 Taça de Ouro

See also

In Spanish: Campeonato Brasileño de Serie A para niños

• Campeonato Brasileiro Série B, the second division of Brazilian football
• Copa do Brasil, Brazil's main knockout football competition