Taça Guanabara

Taça Guanabara, or Guanabara Trophy, is a football tournament organized yearly since 1965 by the Rio de Janeiro State Football Federation. In its first four editions (1965, 1966, 1967 and 1968), Taça Guanabara was a tournament of its own right, completely unrelated to the Rio de Janeiro league, and the winners would be seeded to represent Rio de Janeiro in Taça Brasil de Futebol. From 1969 on, it became the first round of the Rio de Janeiro league.

Ever since 1982, the winners of Taça Guanabara play the winners of Taça Rio at the Rio de Janeiro state championship final, the exceptions being 1994 and 1995.

The most successful team in the tournament's history is Flamengo, which have won it 20 times.

Sixteen teams of the competition are divided into two groups, with the traditional four prestigious teams, namely, Botafogo, Flamengo, Fluminense and Vasco da Gama are seeded. Two of them would be in one group and the other two would be in the other. It is possible other teams are also seeded in some ways, but the seeding criteria are not stated in the competition rules and has never been publicly available.

Each team plays seven games in the group stage. Teams play against every team of the group, with the first two teams in each group qualify to the semifinals. The top team in each group plays the semifinal with the second team from the other group in a single match knock-out format, with the winners of the semifinals compete in the final of the tournament. The champion of the tournament qualified for the Campeonato Carioca Finals to play against the winner of Rio Trophy.

The first season of the tournament was held in 1965. At the time, the tournament was considered an individual competition unrelated to the Campeonato Carioca. Not until 1982, the tournament became the first stage of Campeonato Carioca, but it has been considered a separate competition to certain extent, with a trophy being awarded to the winner of the tournament.

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