Brazilian football league system

Brazilian football league system
Nation
Brazil
States
Acre
Alagoas
Amapá
Amazonas
Bahia
Ceará
Distrito Federal
Espírito Santo
Goiás
Maranhão
Mato Grosso
Mato Grosso do Sul
Minas Gerais
Pará
Paraíba
Paraná
Pernambuco
Piauí
Rio de Janeiro
Rio Grande do Norte
Rio Grande do Sul
Rondônia
Roraima
Santa Catarina
São Paulo
Sergipe
Current Série A Champions (2016)
Palmeiras

The Brazilian football league system is a series of interconnected leagues for football clubs in Brazil. It consists of several independent pyramids, which are the national pyramid and the state pyramids. As those pyramids are independent, clubs usually compete in both pyramids in the same year (a state and a national one). Both the national pyramid and the state pyramids consist of several different levels. The best placed teams in the state championships as well as the best ranked clubs in CBF's ranking compete in the Copa do Brasil.

There are two simultaneous and independent pyramids in the Brazilian football, the national pyramid, and the state pyramid.

While the national competitions are organized by CBF, the state championships are organized by the respective football federations of each state (for example, the Campeonato Pernambucano is organized by the Pernambuco Football Federation).

The national pyramid competitions start in May and end in December. The state pyramid has different durations and schedules in each state, but in states with clubs competing in the national first and second divisions, the main state championships run from January/February to April/May.

Most states have at least one secondary tournament, involving smaller clubs not in the top two leagues of the national championship. These lesser championships runs from July to December. Besides the trophy, it may award the winner(s) places in the main tournament or in the Brazilian Cup next year.

Smaller states, whose clubs do not take part in national competitions have longer competitions, usually running during the "winter" months: April to October.

In the national pyramid, there are four leagues, the Série A, Série B, the Série C and the Série D. The Série A, Série B and Série C currently consist of 20 teams each. Série D was contested by 40 teams, expanded to 68 in 2016. Série A and Série B are contested in a double-round-robin format by all clubs; Série C and Série D have regional groups. Before 2009 there was no Série D and the Série C had 64 teams in regionalized groups. Each year, the four worst placed clubs in the Série A are relegated to the Série B and the four top placed clubs in the Série B are promoted to Série A. This relation of four promoted and four relegated is the same for the other levels.

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Wikipedia