The 2020 Campeonato Carioca de Futebol was the 117th edition of the top division of

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

in the state of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

. The competition was organized by FERJ. It began on 22 December 2019 and ended on 15 July 2020. On 16 March 2020, FERJ suspended the Campeonato Carioca indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic in Brazil. The tournament resumed behind closed doors on 18 June 2020.

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; English: ''Flamengo Rowing Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea, best known for their professional football t ...

, the defending champions, successfully defended their title after defeating

Fluminense Fluminense Football Club (), known as Fluminense, is a Brazilian sports club best known for its professional football team that competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the first tier of Brazilian football and the Campeonato Carioca, th ...

3–1 on aggregate to win their 36th Campeonato Carioca title. Champions

, runners-up

, Taça Independência winners

Volta Redonda Volta Redonda () is the name of a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro state of Brazil with an area of 182.81 km2, located from 350m to 707m above the sea level (22°31'23" S, 44°06'15" W) an ...

, Torneio Extra winners Boavista and Torneio Extra runners-up Madureira qualified for

2021 Copa do Brasil The 2021 Copa do Brasil (officially the Copa Intelbras do Brasil 2021 for sponsorship reasons) was the 33rd edition of the Copa do Brasil football competition. It was held between 9 March and 15 December 2021. The competition was contested by 92 ...

. The top three teams not competing in any level of the national Campeonato Brasileiro, Boavista, Madureira and Bangu, qualified for the

2021 Campeonato Brasileiro Série D The 2021 Campeonato Brasileiro Série D was a football competition held in Brazil, equivalent to the fourth division. The competition began on 26 May and ended on 13 November 2021. Sixty-eight teams competed in the tournament. Sixty-four teams qu ...

. At the end of the tournament, only one club was relegated to 2020 Campeonato Carioca Série B1. Originally, the relegated team

Nova Iguaçu Nova Iguaçu (, locally: or , ''New Iguaçu'') is a municipality in Rio de Janeiro state in Brazil. Location The city is named after the Iguaçu River that runs through it and empties into Guanabara Bay (not to be confused with the Iguaçu Ri ...

obtained an injunction from the Tribunal de Justiça Desportiva do Futebol do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (TJD/RJ) that guaranteed their presence in the 2021 Campeonato Carioca First Round, but the Superior Tribunal de Justiça Desportiva (STJD) overturned the decision and Nova Iguaçu were relegated to 2020 Série B1.

Participating teams

Format

The competition format was similar to the previous three editions but with some alterations to each stage.

First round

The preliminary phase of the tournament was contested as a round-robin among the two worst-placed teams of the 2019 competition, the two best-placed teams in the 2019 relegation group, and the two teams promoted from the 2019 Série B1. The top two teams of the preliminary phase qualify for the main competition while the remaining four compete in the relegation round.

Relegation round

Unlike the previous format, only one team participating in the Campeonato Carioca would be relegated. The four lowest placed teams in the preliminary round form Group X and play a double round-robin. The first placed team avoid relegation and qualify for the preliminary phase of the

2021 Campeonato Carioca The 2021 Campeonato Carioca de Futebol was the 118th edition of the top division of football in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The competition is organized by FERJ. It began on 16 January 2021 and ended on 22 May 2021. The tournament was played be ...

. The remaining three teams form Group Z and play another double round-robin. The lowest placed team would be relegated to the 2020 Campeonato Carioca Série B1.

Taça Guanabara and Taça Rio

In the main competition, the twelve clubs compete across two rounds in two groups of six. The first round is the

Taça Guanabara The Taça Guanabara, or Guanabara Cup, is a football tournament organized annually since 1965 by the Rio de Janeiro State Football Federation. In its first four editions (1965, 1966, 1967 and 1968), the Taça Guanabara was a tournament in its o ...

and the second round is the

Taça Rio Taça Rio, or Rio Trophy, is an annual Rio de Janeiro football tournament. It is the second stage competition of the Campeonato Carioca, the state football championship in Rio de Janeiro. It has been organized since 1982 by the Rio de Janeiro St ...

. The two rounds have swapped formats from the 2019 Campeonato Carioca. In the Taça Guanabara, each team faces all six teams of the opposite group. the two top-placed teams in each group qualify for the semi-final of the Taça Guanabara. In the event of a draw, the higher placed team advances to the final. The Taça Guanabara final is contested as a single match. In case of a draw in the final, the match goes directly to a penalty shootout. In the Taça Rio, each group contests a round-robin within their group. Like the Taça Guanabara, the top two teams in each group standing qualify to a semi-final with the same format.

Final

The final stage only is contested between two teams, as opposed to the four-team bracket of previous seasons. The winners of the Taça Guanabara and Taça Rio play the two-leg final. If tie on aggregate goals after both legs, the final is decided in a penalty shootout. If the same club wins both the Taça Guanabara and Taça Rio, and no other team has collected more points than this team across both group stages combined, then this team is immediately champion of the Campeonato Carioca. Otherwise, the team that won both cups and the team with the most points play a two-leg final. In the case of a draw on aggregate, the championship goes to the team that won both cups.

Taça Independência and Torneio Extra

The top two teams in the combined table of the Taça Guanabara and Taça Rio automatically qualify to the

. Additionally, the best-placed team in the combined table that is not one of the "Big Four" of Rio de Janeiro (

Botafogo Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood (''bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of M ...

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira (; ; c. 1460s – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea. His initial voyage to India by way of Cape of Good Hope (1497–1499) was the first to link E ...

) wins the Taça Independência (''Independence Cup'') and also qualifies to the 2021 Copa do Brasil. Originally, the four teams — excluding the "Big Four" and Taça Independência winners — with best overall performance (only considering matches against non-Big Four teams) would compete in the Torneio Extra (''Extra Tournament''): a single-elimination semi-finals and final bracket, with the winner receiving a berth to the 2021 Copa do Brasil. However the Torneio Extra was cancelled and the best seeded team was declared winners. As the 2020 Copa Rio was also cancelled, its 2021 Copa do Brasil berth was awarded to the Torneio Extra runners-up (second best seeded team).

First round

and

Macaé Macaé () is a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro, 180 km northeast of the state capital. It is the birthplace of the 13th president of Brazil, Washington Luís. Location Macaé is generally considered to be th ...

qualified from the 2019 Campeonato Carioca relegation playoff. Americano and Portuguesa were the two lowest placed teams in the 2019 Campeonato Carioca main tournament. Friburguense and

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

were promoted from the

2019 Campeonato Carioca Série B1 The 2019 Campeonato Carioca Série B1 was the 39th edition of the second division of football in Rio de Janeiro. The contest is organized by FERJ. Since 2017, the Campeonato Carioca Série B has been called the Série B1. Friburguense were champi ...

. The First round was contested from 22 December 2019 to 11 January 2020.

Taça Guanabara

The Taça Guanabara group stage was contested from 18 January to 9 February.

Group A

Group B

Knockout stage

;Semi-finals ---- ;Final Home team was decided in a draw held on 14 February 2020, 14:00 at FERJ headquarters in Rio de Janeiro.

Taça Rio

The Taça Rio group stage was contested from 28 February to 2 July.

Group A

Group B

Knockout stage

;Semi-finals ---- ;Final Home team was decided in a draw held on 6 July 2020, 10:00 at FERJ headquarters in Rio de Janeiro.

Final stage

Final

(winners of the Taça Guanabara) and

(winners of the Taça Rio) played the final on a home-and-away two-legged basis. As finalist with more points in the overall table, Flamengo earned the right to choose the order of the legs. Flamengo chose to be home team in the second leg. ----

Overall table

Bottom team of the overall table was "relegated" to 2021 Campeonato Carioca First Round. The "relegated" team Cabofriense, originally, obtained an injunction from TJD/RJ that guaranteed their presence in the 2021 Campeonato Carioca Championship Round, but STJD overturned the decision and Cabofriense were relegated to 2021 First Round.

Torneio Extra

As best-placed team in the overall table, excluding the "Big Four",

won the Taça Independência and qualified for the 2021 Copa do Brasil. The four teams, excluding the "Big Four" and Taça Independência winners, with the best performance in the tournament (excluding matches against the "Big Four" teams) would compete in the Torneio Extra (''Extra Tournament'') for a berth to the 2021 Copa do Brasil, but the Torneio Extra was cancelled. The best seeded team, Boavista, was declared winners and qualified for the 2021 Copa do Brasil. As the 2020 Copa Rio was cancelled, the Torneio extra runners-up, Madureira, also qualified for the 2021 Copa do Brasil.

Relegation Round

The Relegation Round was competed from 18 January to 4 July in two separate double round-robin groups. The top team of Group X qualified for the First Round of the

and the bottom three contested the Group Z relegation group. The lowest placed team was relegated to the 2020 Série B1. The top two teams of Group Z also qualified for the preliminary round of the 2021 Campeonato Carioca.

were relegated to 2020 Campeonato Carioca Série B1. They, originally, obtained an injunction from TJD/RJ that guaranteed their presence in the 2021 Campeonato Carioca First Round, but STJD overturned the decision and Nova Iguaçu were relegated to 2020 Série B1.

Group X

Group Z

Awards

2020 Campeonato Carioca Team

Top goalscorers

References

{{2020 in Brazilian football Campeonato Carioca seasons

Carioca Carioca ( or ) is a demonym used to refer to anything related to the City of Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil. The original meaning of the term is controversial, maybe from Tupi language "''kari' oka''", meaning "white house" as the whitewashed stone ...

Campeonato Carioca 2020