2020 Campeonato Carioca


The 2020 Campeonato Carioca de Futebol was the 117th edition of the top division of football in the state of Rio de Janeiro. 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, the defending champions, successfully defended their title after defeating Fluminense 3–1 on aggregate to win their 36th Campeonato Carioca title.
Champions Flamengo, runners-up Fluminense, Taça Independência winners Volta Redonda and Torneio Extra winners will qualify for 2021 Copa do Brasil. The top two teams not competing in any level of the national Campeonato Brasileiro, Boavista and Madureira, qualified for the 2021 Campeonato Brasileiro Série D.
At the end of the tournament, only one club would have been relegated to 2020 Campeonato Carioca Série B1. However, the relegated team Nova Iguaçu obtained an injuction from Tribunal de Justiça Desportiva do Futebol do Estado do Rio de Janeiro that guaranteed their presence in the 2021 Campeonato Carioca First Round. With this decision no teams were relegated.

Participating teams

Format

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

First round

The preliminary phase of the tournament is 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 will form Group X and play a double round-robin. The first placed team will avoid relegation and qualify for the preliminary phase of the 2021 Campeonato Carioca. The remaining three teams will 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 and the second round is the Taça Rio. 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 will go 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 will only be contested between two teams, as opposed to the four-team bracket of previous seasons. The winners of the Taça Guanabara and Taça Rio will play the two-leg final. If tie on aggregate goals after both legs, the final will be 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 will play a two-leg final. In the case of a draw on aggregate, the championship will go 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 2021 Copa do Brasil. Additionally, the best-placed team in the combined table that is not one of the "Big Four" of Rio de Janeiro wins the Taça Independência and also qualifies to the 2021 Copa do Brasil. The four teams — excluding the "Big Four" and Taça Independência winner — that have the best points total will compete in the Torneio Extra : a single-elimination semi-finals and final bracket. The winner of the Torneio Extra also receives a berth to the 2021 Copa do Brasil.

First round

and Macaé 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 were promoted from the 2019 Campeonato Carioca Série B1. 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
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;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
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;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

and Fluminense will play 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.
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Overall table

Bottom team of the overall table would have been "relegated" to 2021 Campeonato Carioca First Round. However, the "relegated" team Cabofriense obtained an injuction from TJD/RJ that guaranteed their presence in the 2021 Campeonato Carioca Championship Round.

Torneio Extra

As best-placed team in the overall table, excluding the "Big Four", Volta Redonda won the Taça Independência and qualified to the 2021 Copa do Brasil.
The four teams, excluding the "Big Four" and Taça Independência winners, with the best performance in the tournament will compete in the Torneio Extra for a berth to 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 2021 Campeonato Carioca 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.
At the end of the tournament, Nova Iguaçu was relegated to 2020 Campeonato Carioca Série B1, but they obtained an injuction from TJD/RJ that avoided their relegation and guaranteed their presence in the 2021 Campeonato Carioca First Round. With this decision no teams were relegated.

Group X

Group Z

Awards

2020 Campeonato Carioca Team

Pos.PlayerClub
GK Douglas BorgesVolta Redonda
DF RafinhaFlamengo
DF Rodrigo CaioFlamengo
DF Marcelo BenevenutoBotafogo
DF Jean/ Filipe LuísBoavista/Flamengo
MF GersonFlamengo
MF Éverton RibeiroFlamengo
MF NenêFluminense
FW GabrielFlamengo
FW João CarlosVolta Redonda
FW Bruno HenriqueFlamengo
HC Odair Hellmann/ Jorge JesusFluminense/Flamengo

AwardWinnerClub
Best player GabrielFlamengo

Top goalscorers

RankPlayerClubGoals
1 GabrielFlamengo8
1 João CarlosVolta Redonda8
3 Caio DantasBoavista7
4 Germán CanoVasco da Gama6
4 NenêFluminense6
6 AdrianoPortuguesa5
6 Bruno HenriqueFlamengo5
6 EvanilsonFluminense5
6 Matheus BabiMacaé5
6 PedroFlamengo5
6 Saulo MineiroVolta Redonda5