Tim Vickeryreports
Continental champions Palmeiras
are now also the new champions
of the state of Sao Paulo. In Rio
deJaneiro, Fluminense shocked
Flamengo to come out on top.
National league and cup winners
Atletico Mineiro were predictable
winners in Minas Gerais, while in Rio
Grande do Sul it was celebration time
for Gremio, offering some consolation
for their surprise relegation to the
national second division.
But does it really matter? The
serious stuff starts from April –
the Brazilian Championship, Copa
Libertadores and the later rounds
of the domestic cup. Any euphoria
at becoming state champions is
likely to wear off pretty quickly.
These competitions – one for each
of the country’s 27 states – exist in a
kind of historical limbo. With no real
connection to the national league,
theyareaperpetual sourceof
confusion for the outsider, and
a vexing issue for many inside
the Brazilian game.
Theyaretheconsequenceofthe
problems of organising football in a
land the size of a continent – where
geography does not help. There is no
coastal plain to ease links between
cities. Forests and ranges of cliffs have
hampered transport connections, and
this is reflected in its football.
The tradition of the Brazilian
game is regional rather than national.
Competitions were local in nature out
of necessity. The state championships
were up and running long before
anything more ambitious was possible.
The historic rivalries, then, have been
within cities rather than between them.
Limitations of infrastructure mean that
a genuinely national championship
did not get underway until1971,
and it hasalways had to split the
year with the state competitions,
which untilcomparatively recently
were still seenby many as at least
as important.
But there has always been a
problem with them. On some kind
of league basis – and all sorts of
convoluted formats have been used- they pit giant clubs against tiny
opponents. In a one-off cup
competition, this might have a charm.
But stretched out over the course of a
few months, it all becomes something
of a strain. The closing stages are
intense and dramatic - high-octane
finals disputed by old rivals. Reaching
that point, though, has tried the
patience. The state championships
are something like a wedding ring
swallowed by a horse – you can get
it back the other side, but not before
wading through a considerable
quantity of undesirable material.
Sowhyhavetheylastedallthis
time? The calendar of domestic
Brazilian football has long been
controversial. It is a perennial quest
to cram three litres into a bottle that
wasbuiltfortwo.Onereasonisthat
the hyperinflation of the1980s and
early ’90s was so insane that it left
little scope or incentive for the
planning of something more rational.
Once inflation was brought under
control in1994, it was apparent that
devoting half the year to the state
championships was an exaggeration.
Pressure mounted, and in 2003 the
time given to the national league was
increased, and that of the regional
competitions reduced. They now run
from mid-to-late-January until April
or the start of May, with this year’s
World Cup forcing an especially
early finish.
eye
witness
BRAZILState of play