The Taça Brasil ( en, Brazil Cup) was the Brazilian national

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 ...

championship contested from 1959 to 1968.

Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-larges ...

, Cruzeiro and

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 o ...

were the only champions to have played all phases of the tournament, because until the 1968 edition teams from

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 ...

and

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaW ...

were already qualified to the semi-finals. Both Cruzeiro and Bahia, the only champions not from Rio or São Paulo, beat the

Santos Futebol Clube Santos Futebol Clube (), commonly known simply as Santos or Santos FC and nicknamed the ''Peixe'' (; "fish"), is a Brazilian sports club based in Vila Belmiro, a ''bairro'' in the city of Santos. It is also the team with the most goals in ...

whose players included

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; born 23 October 1940), known as Pelé (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and labelled "the greatest" by FIFA ...

, Coutinho and Pepe. In 1989 the

Copa do Brasil The Copa do Brasil ( en, Brazil Cup) is a knockout football competition played by 92 teams, representing all 26 Brazilian states plus the Federal District. It is the Brazilian domestic cup and the Brazilian equivalent of the FA Cup, Taça de P ...

was created, in the same cup-style and also qualifying to the Copa Libertadores.

Relationship with the Copa Libertadores

The Taça Brasil was founded to enable Brazil to provide contenders for the newly created

Copa Libertadores de América The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

. From 1959 to 1964 the winner of Taça Brasil was selected to be the sole Brazilian competitor in the next year's Copa Libertadores. In 1965 and 1966, the two finalists of the Taça Brasil were both chosen to represent Brazil in the next year's Copa Libertadores, which was expanded in 1966. In 1967 and 1968, the winner of the Taça Brasil qualified for the next year's Copa Libertadores, along with the winner of the

Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa The Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa, also known as Taça de Prata, or nicknamed Robertão, was an association football competition contested in Brazil between 1967 and 1970 among soccer teams from São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul, ...

(also known as the "Taça de Prata"). 1968 was the last year the Taça Brasil was contested; in 1969 and 1970 the top two teams in the Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa became the two Brazilian entrants in the following year's Copa Libertadores, before the formation of the Campeonato Brasileiro, a Brazilian national league championship, in 1971.

Champions

Titles by team

*5 titles ** Santos *2 titles **

Palmeiras Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (), commonly known as Palmeiras, is a Brazilian professional football club based in the city of São Paulo, in the district of Perdizes. Palmeiras is one of the most popular clubs in South America, with around ...

*1 title **

** Cruzeiro

Top goal scorers

* 1959 - 8 goals - Léo (

) * 1960 - 7 goals - Bececê (

Fortaleza Fortaleza (, locally , Portuguese for ''Fortress'') is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeastern Brazil. It belongs to the Metropolitan mesoregion of Fortaleza and microregion of Fortaleza. It is Brazil's 5th largest city and the t ...

) * 1961 - 7 goals -

( Santos) * 1962 - 7 goals - Coutinho ( Santos) * 1963 - 8 goals - Pelé ( Santos) and Ruitter ( Confiança) * 1964 - 7 goals - Pelé ( Santos) * 1965 - 9 goals - Bitá ( Náutico) * 1966 - 10 goals - Bitá ( Náutico) and Toninho Guerreiro ( Santos) * 1967 - 6 goals - Chiclete ( Treze) * 1968 - 7 goals - Ferreti (

)

External links

CBF
Confederação Brasileira de Futebol - Brazilian Football Confederation

Eternal matches: Cruzeiro 6x2 Santos
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taca Brasil Defunct football cup competitions in Brazil