Every Brazilian Champion since 1929

So I have been compiling a list of which clubs should be considered the "Champions of Brazil" since the late 1920s and early 1930s.

I'm sure most people on the forum are aware that there was no national league in Brazil before the 1970's. Due to the extension of the country's territory, it was virtually impossile to organize a national competition that could involve all the clubs from all the country's 26 States.

That only started to become possible in 1967, when the Rio-São Paulo Tournament was extended to become the Roberto Gomes Pedrosa Tournament, which included all the main clubs from the States of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Sul and Paraná (all the biggest clubs in the country included).

That was really the first edition of what would evolve to become the Brazilian League in 1971.

But that does not mean that the status of "Brazilian Champion" was not given to clubs in the country prior to that. In fact, Brazilian clubs have been referred to as "Champions of Brazil" since the 1910s, as can be easily verified in the newspapers at the time.

It is widely known that the two main States of Brazilian football, historically, have always been São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Out of the 12 big clubs from the "G12", EIGHT come from either of those States: Botafogo (RJ), Corinthians (SP), Flamengo (RJ), Fluminense (RJ), Palmeiras (SP), São Paulo (SP), Santos (SP) and Vasco da Gama (RJ).

The paulista and carioca clubs were responsilble for practically ALL of the Brazil national team call-ups until the 1960s. They had the best structure, the best financial conditions, the best teams and players, the greatest visibility for being in the 2 most important States of the country and they had the most competitive championships (the Paulista and Carioca Tournaments). And, most importantly for the topic in question: they played against each other almost annually since the beginning of the last century.

And that is when they were referred to as "Champions of Brazil" by the media. The Paulista Champion would very often face the Carioca Champion, usually in the beginning of the following year, and that would very often define which club was the best in the country. The "Brazilian Champion" would come from the clubs that were really representative of Brazilian football back then: the Paulistas and the Cariocas.

And that is what the list is based on, as follows:

CAMPEÕES BRASILEIROS:

• 1929 - CORINTHIANS (Taça dos Campeões Estaduais RJ-SP - "O Campeão dos Campeões")
• 1930 - BOTAFOGO (Taça dos Campeões Estaduais RJ-SP + Taça dos Campeões Rio-Sul)
• 1931 - SÃO PAULO (Taça dos Campeões Estaduais RJ-SP)
• 1932 - PALMEIRAS (Campeão Paulista com 100% de aproveitamento)
• 1933 - PALMEIRAS (Torneio Rio-São Paulo)
• 1934 - SÃO PAULO (Campeão do Torneio Extra e Vice-Campeão Paulista)
• 1935 - BOTAFOGO (Campeão Carioca e goleada histórica sobre o futuro campeão paulista)
• 1936 - VASCO DA GAMA (Taça dos Campeões Estaduais RJ-SP)
• 1937 - ATLÉTICO MINEIRO (Torneio dos Campeões)
• 1938 - FLUMINENSE (Tricampeão Carioca e vitória sobre o vencedor do Campeonato Paulista Extra em SP)
• 1939 - FLAMENGO (Campeão do Estadual mais competitivo daquele ano - "renascimento")
• 1940 - FLUMINENSE (Campeão Carioca e do Torneio Rio-São Paulo)
• 1941 - CORINTHIANS (Taça dos Campeões Estaduais RJ-SP)
• 1942 - PALMEIRAS (Taça dos Campeões Estaduais RJ-SP)
• 1943 - SÃO PAULO (Taça dos Campeões Estaduais RJ-SP)
• 1944 - FLAMENGO (Tricampeão Carioca e campeão da Taça dos Campeões Estaduais RJ-SP)
• 1945 - SÃO PAULO (Taça dos Campeões Estaduais RJ-SP)
• 1946 - SÃO PAULO (Taça dos Campeões Estaduais RJ-SP)
• 1947 - PALMEIRAS (Taça dos Campeões Estaduais RJ-SP)
• 1948 - SÃO PAULO (Taça dos Campeões Estaduais RJ-SP)
• 1949 - VASCO DA GAMA (Campeão Carioca invicto - auge do "Expresso da Vitória")
• 1950 - CORINTHIANS (Torneio Rio-São Paulo)
• 1951 - PALMEIRAS (Torneio Rio-São Paulo)
• 1952 - PORTUGUESA (Torneio Rio-São Paulo)
• 1953 - CORINTHIANS (Torneio Rio-São Paulo)
• 1954 - CORINTHIANS (Torneio Rio-São Paulo)
• 1955 - PORTUGUESA (Torneio Rio-São Paulo)
• 1956 - SANTOS (Taça dos Campeões Estaduais RJ-SP)
• 1957 - FLUMINENSE (Torneio Rio-São Paulo)
• 1958 - VASCO DA GAMA (Torneio Rio-São Paulo)
• 1959 - SANTOS (Torneio Rio-São Paulo)
• 1960 - FLUMINENSE (Torneio Rio-São Paulo)
• 1961 - FLAMENGO (Torneio Rio-São Paulo)
• 1962 - BOTAFOGO (Torneio Rio-São Paulo)
• 1963 - SANTOS (Torneio Rio-São Paulo)
• 1964 - BOTAFOGO (Torneio Rio-São Paulo)
• 1965 - PALMEIRAS (Torneio Rio-São Paulo)
• 1966 - BOTAFOGO (Torneio Rio-São Paulo)
• 1967 - PALMEIRAS (Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa)
• 1968 - SANTOS (Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa)
• 1969 - PALMEIRAS (Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa)
• 1970 - FLUMINENSE (Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa)

 

Thank you.

Yes, that is what was officially recognized by CBF in 2010, but it remains a HIGHLY controversial decision in Brazil. A huge amount of football fans and critics in the country question the unification of the Taça Brasil as a Campeonato Brasileiro and I happen to agree that it was a historic mistake.

The Taça Brasil has absolutely NOTHING to do with the Brasileirão. The competition that originated the Brazilian Championship was the Roberto Gomes Pedrosa Tournament that started in 1967 and was a direct extension of the Rio-São Paulo Tournament that was already disputed in Brazil long before (and already had status of a national competition, even though it was only disputed by the clubs from the 2 main States).

The Rio-SP ceased to exist in 1966 and gave rise to the "Robertão" in 1967, which already included all the main clubs in the country, extended to more States.

The Brazilian Championship is DIRECTLY related to the Rio-São Paulo Tournament, while the Taça Brazil was a PARALELL Cup created in 1959 that resembles the current Copa do Brasil much more than it resembles the Campeonato Brasileiro.

Many people in Brazil claim that the Taça Brasil should be equalled to the Copa do Brasil and not to the Campeonato Brasileiro. And I absolutely agree with it.

The Campeonato Brasileiro is a DIRECT extension of the Rio-São Paulo Tournament and that is the competition that should have been unified by CBF.

• Taça dos Campeões Estaduais RJ-SP —> Torneio Rio-SP —> Robertão —> Brasileirão
• Taça Brasil ——> Copa do Brasil

 

You are correct. But I only consider ONE champion per year/season on my list, as I believe it should always be.

The 1964 Rio-São Paulo Tournament ended with a draw in points between Santos and Botafogo, but Botafogo had a slight advantage of having conceded minus 3 goals in comparison to Santos. That criterion alone could give them the title.

Besides that, Botafogo also beat Santos in the first game of the final that would decide the champion and was only played the following year, in 1965. Botafogo won the match in Rio (3x2) and the second match, in São Paulo, never took place due to calendar issues.

Therefore, I believe Botafogo has a stronger claim to the 1964 title than Santos.

NB: similar situation happened in 1966, when the tilte was shared by 4 teams, but Botafogo was declared the "real" champion by the public and the media because it finished with the most goals scored and that was the criterion usually applied to declare the champion in the case of draws in points back then.