Torneio Rio – São Paulo

Torneio Rio – São Paulo (English: Rio – São Paulo Tournament) was a traditional Brazilian football competition contested between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro teams from 1933 to 1966, in 1993 and from 1997 to 2002.

From 1954, the official name of the tournament, which was organized by the state football associations of the state of São Paulo and the city of Rio de Janeiro (after unification of the states of Guanabara and Rio de Janeiro of the state of Rio de Janeiro), was Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa, after a former goalkeeper of the Brazilian national team and president of the São Paulo Football Association who died in that year. This name found no broad usage until 1967, when the tournament was opened initially for teams from Minas Gerais, Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul, and later also from Pernambuco and Bahia. This Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa, also often referred to as Taça Prata (Silver Cup) and held until 1970, is generally considered the predecessor of the Brazilian Football Championship which started in 1971. However, the national Brazilian Football Association CBF has never given any official recognition to this tournament.

Due to it continental size and historical peculiarities, Brazil has a short history of national competitions, with the modern Campeonato Brasileiro having started in 1971 supported by the then military regime and just became possible thanks to the changes and evolution in civil aviation and air transport. Controversies enough, until today, the CBF, do not officially recognize the preceding national tournaments, held from 1950 to 1970, namely the Torneio Rio – São Paulo, the Taça Brasil (a national cup) and Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa (an interstate championship), to be regarded as national titles, although those championships had teams from all regions from Brazil. In the era prior to officially recognized national competition, given the majority of better teams were located in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, some historians consider that until 1959, despite its calendar irregularity, the Rio – São Paulo Tournament was the most prestigious out-of-states title for any team to claim.

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