Brazilian by running points reaches 20 years old – 04/15/2023 – Sport

The afternoon of December 15, 2002 is remembered for Robinho’s pedaling and for the end of Santos’ 18-year fast without a title. The phrase that Galvão Bueno said a few times during the transmission of the decision of the Brazilian Championship of that year was left in the background:

“Final is a cheap one!”

The 2023 tournament, which started this Saturday (15), marks the two decades of the formula that ended the finals. The running points format has been absorbed as normal by clubs, players and fans. Since it was adopted, Brazilian football has moved more money, paid higher wages and dominated South American tournaments. Stadiums became arenas, the country hosted a World Cup and foreign coaches became routine.

But the championship became more elite, expensive and with less variation of champions. Between 2003 and 2022, eight different teams won the title: Cruzeiro, Santos, Corinthians, São Paulo, Flamengo, Fluminense, Palmeiras and Atlético Mineiro.

In the previous 20 years, from 1983 to 2002, there were 13 champions: Flamengo, Fluminense, Coritiba, São Paulo, Sport, Bahia, Vasco, Corinthians, Palmeiras, Botafogo, Grêmio, Athletico and Santos.

“It’s not just elite on the field. It’s off the field as well because of professionalization. Today you need to have planning, have processes and execute these processes. If the same teams win titles, it’s due to a series of factors. The fields were very different from one stadium to another before 2003. Today it is more equal. At the same time, it is currently very difficult to remain in the first division. Big teams fall”, says former defender Edu Dracena.

He was champion four times in the era of consecutive points and for three different teams: Cruzeiro, Corinthians and Palmeiras. For the miners, he lifted the cup of the first edition, 20 years ago.

It has become common for traditional teams to go to Série B. Atlético Mineiro (2005), Corinthians (2007), Vasco (2008, 2013, 2015 and 2020), Palmeiras (2012), Botafogo (2014 and 2020), Internacional (2016) , Cruzeiro (2019) and Grêmio (2004 and 2021) were relegated.

“[Pontos corridos] It’s championship to a certain extent. Because there comes a time when it ceases to be attractive for almost all teams, because they have no chance of fighting for the title. From the side of the fan’s passion, this is bad, because the champion happens to define himself well before. But it’s the fairest formula”, says Dimba, top scorer in the first championship in consecutive points, with 31 goals.

He had been the protagonist, the previous year, of a story that would be impossible in current times. Two of his goals in the last round of the first phase, for the already relegated Gama against Coritiba, made Santos with the eighth and last place for the quarterfinals. The club from Vila Belmiro ended up champion.

“I was in this game between Gama and Coritiba. It was unlikely. Everyone thought that Coritiba would win, but they didn’t see the color of the ball. These are stories that are lost in the current formula”, recalls Wendel Lopes, current president of the Federal District association. .

Gama’s trajectory becomes relevant because it was the team that participated in the last Brazilian before the points accrued, in 2002, ended up relegated and never managed to return to the elite. It is without national division in 2023.

“The Brazilian football market is becoming very concentrated in a few places. It is much more difficult for a small team to establish itself nowadays. The money is concentrated in a few teams. And if the league [de clubes] revenge, it will be the death of Série D, a tournament without television and funded by the CBF”, he adds.

Today there is much more money moved by the largest Brazilian associations. Between 2001 and 2005, Flamengo earned R$407.7 million, an average of R$81.54 million per year. In 2023, the projection is to raise BRL 1 billion. Crefisa’s sponsorship contract with Palmeiras, which pays around R$80 million a year, would be enough to cover 260 payrolls for Santos, the Brazilian champion in 2002.

Brazilian clubs have dominated South American competitions and are accused of using financial strength to hire the best players that do not interest the big players in Europe. The country has won the last four editions of the Libertadores and had both teams from the country in the decisions of the last three seasons.

From 2003, Brazil was champion in 11 Libertadores. 55% utilization.

“Championship of consecutive points is a breakthrough in Brazilian football. In the past there were games with asterisks, change of calendar, dispute form… This caused a decrease in the quality of the product. It rewards regularity and the most organized teams. in Libertadores, Sul-Americana and against relegation there is emotion in every round”, defends Marcelo Paz, president of Fortaleza.

In the 20 years before the current format, two clubs from the Northeast were national champions (Sport in 1987 and Bahia in 1988). But Paz believes that the two round-trip shifts and stability favor well-organized, long-term work. Like the one carried out by Fortaleza.

“Serie A of the Brasileirão, a few years ago, was a championship in which you didn’t know the format, because every year the formula changed, the team was often relegated and that actually didn’t happen. Like the format of a few years ago remained the same, with the same competition formula, it gained more credibility”, completes Fabio Wolff, specialist in sports marketing.

As there are arguments for all tastes, it is possible to remember that stories like Santos champion in 2002, São Caetano in 2000 who left a module that represented the third division to dispute the elite decision in the same year and the 1985 tournament they will never happen again.

It was when Bangu and Coritiba made the final of the country’s first division. And little Brazil from Pelotas reached the semifinals.