By Samindra Kunti
October 28 – A new independent tournament ‘Copa Sul-Minas-Rio’ may redesign the layout of Brazilian domestic football in 2016. The Brazilian FA CBF is watching anxiously from the sidelines.
The CBF and the state federations have always had the monopoly over the organization and administration of Brazilian domestic club football. In the mid 90’s the ‘Club of 13’, uniting Brazil’s thirteen biggest and most powerful clubs, imploded and effectively put an end to any independent movement in Brazilian football.
After the 2014 World Cup and the recent FIFA scandal, involving former CBF president Jose Maria Marin and current president Marco Polo del Nero, clubs have grown uneasy with the CBF leadership. Brazil’s football calendar remains out of sync with the rest of the world and the state championships are an outdated concept, whose sole purpose is to maintain the CBF’s power base.
At the end of September Gremio, Internacional, Atletico-MG, Cruzeiro, Flamengo, Fluminense, Coritibia, Atlético-PR, Figueirense and Avai joined forces to introduce the Copa Sul-Minas-Rio, a new tournament from 2016 onwards that would unite clubs from those respective states. The Copa Sul-Minas-Rio doesn’t enjoy the backing of some other leading clubs, notably Sao Paulo, Corinthians, Vasco da Gama and Botafogo.
The new Copa wants to be a credible alternative to the state championships, where the quality of play, attendances and TV rights income are low for the big clubs. The tournament will be played during the first quarter of 2016 with 12 clubs participating.
At first the CBF was apprehensive towards the new tournament, but earlier this week the organisation made a U-turn, disbanding any ideas of organising a Rio-Sao Paulo tournament to counter the new movement and expressing that they are favorable towards the new tournament. The clubs behind the new tournament have indicated that even if the CBF don’t offer their full backing they intend to proceed with the Copa Sul-Minas-Rio.
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