Clube dos 13

Clube dos 13 (Club of the 13) was the organization responsible for representing the interest of the most powerful football clubs of Brazil, including members from several football state federations such as Federação Paulista de Futebol, Federação de Futebol do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Federação Gaúcha de Futebol and Federação Mineira de Futebol . The organization exists mainly to negotiate radio and television rights of competitions such as the Campeonato Brasileiro. Also Clube dos 13 is responsible for providing a unified voice in negotiations with CBF about the format of the Brazilian competitions.

It was founded on July 11, 1987 by representatives of the 13 most traditional clubs, hence the organization's name. As of 2007, the organization is now composed of 20 members.

Clube dos 13 organized two national competitions: 1987 Copa União and 2000 Copa João Havelange.

The Clube dos 13 teams were dissatisfied with CBF, and so they organized their own championship independently of the CBF. Copa União was contested between sixteen teams: the thirteen founding members of Clube dos 13 and three invited teams (Coritiba, Goiás and Santa Cruz).

The first phase of Copa União was divided in two stages, and the teams were divided in two groups of eight teams (Group A and Group B). Both stages were played in a single round-robin format. In the first stage the teams from one group played against the teams of the other group. In the second stage, the teams played inside their own groups. The winners of the two groups from both stages qualified to the semifinal phase. The semi-finals and the finals were played in two legs.

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