Formerly | Liga Nacional Campeonato Brasileiro |
---|---|
Sport | Volleyball |
Founded | 1976, current format since 1994 |
Owner(s) | Brazilian Volleyball Confederation (CBV) |
No. of teams | 12 |
Country | Brazil |
Most recent champion(s) |
Sada Cruzeiro (2016–17) |
Most titles | Minas (7) |
TV partner(s) | SporTV and Globo |
Level on pyramid | 1 |
Official website | superliga.com.br |
The Brazilian Volleyball Super League (Portuguese: Superliga Brasileira de Voleibol) is the top level Brazilian professional volleyball competition. It is organized by the Brazilian Volleyball Confederation. It shares the same name as the women's tournament, and are disputed simultaneously. The number of participating clubs varies every year. The champion team qualifies for the South American Championship.
Until the early 1960s, there were only state volleyball competitions in Brazil. A national level competition was inconceivable, because of the geographical distances and lack of transportation infrastructure. Only in 1962 the first national volleyball competition was disputed, the Guarani Trophy of Champion clubs (Portuguese: Troféu Guarani de Clubes Campeões). The competition was disputed two more times, being rename in 1964 to Brazilian Championship of Champion Clubs (Portuguese: Campeonato Brasileiro de Clubes Campeões). In 1965 started a three-years hiatus without a national level competition, until the Brazilian Trophy (Portuguese: Taça Brasil) was organized in 1968 with teams from Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Minas Gerais. It was organized in such format until 1975.
Only in 1976, the competition was opened to amateur clubs from all Brazilian states, and became truly national. It was renamed to Brazilian Championship (Portuguese: Campeonato Brasileiro) and was held every second year. In 1980 the Brazilian Championship had a major reorganization, becoming an annual competition and allowing professional teams for the first time. The competition's format changed in 1988, and started to follow the northern hemisphere calendar. Also, it was renamed to Brazilian National League (Portuguese: Liga Nacional). The competition was disputed under this format between the seasons 1988-89 and 1993-94.