The Campeonato Nacional de Clubes (English: National Club Championship) was the official name used by the CBD (forerunner of the current CBF) to designate the national tournament held between 1971 and 1974, when it was officially renamed Copa Brasil. Before 1971, the current Campeonato Brasileiro de Futebol was called Taça de Prata.
History
Background Taça Brasil was the first official national competition between football clubs that granted the winner the title of Brazilian champion. Although the competition was set up in 1954 by the CBD (Brazilian Sports Confederation, now the CBF), with the aim of naming the Brazilian champion club of the season, the first edition of the competition could not be held in 1955, since the Brazilian football calendar from 1955 to 1958 had already been approved and could not be changed due to the 1958 World Cup; as a result, the Taça Brasil only started in 1959. However, as there were limited dates, economic restrictions and difficulties with interstate travel and transportation in such a large country, the competition was set up in the most economical way possible. This meant that only the state champions were allowed to participate (one club per state), except in some editions, when a second club was admitted and they faced each other in a big eliminatory system. Despite this national competition, Brazilian football needed a tournament that included the biggest teams in the country and was profitable and attractive to the participating clubs and fans. In 1967, with a better structured Brazil, it was possible to explore a national competition format with more matches.
Cruzeiro's victory in the Taça Brasil in 1966, their first national title, led the CBD to put more ambitious integration plans into practice, as this achievement changed the axis of Brazilian football, which until then had been dominated by teams from São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. This triumph by a club from Minas Gerais was considered a game-changer, since it was believed that high-level football only existed on the Rio-São Paulo axis, despite Bahia's good performances. Consequently, in 1967, the Torneio Rio-São Paulo was expanded to include clubs from other states and became known by Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa; from its second edition, in 1968, the CBD officially renamed it the Taça de Prata. The Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa, unlike the Taça Brasil, was a nationwide competition with a format that included most of the big clubs from the country's main centers.
The Robertão, as the championship became popularly known, was the first competition to include the main teams in the country. Due to the format, the Robertão instantly pleased the participating clubs, managers and fans (the average attendance per game was more than twenty thousand people), becoming the first national tournament to achieve a winning and profitable formula for its participating teams. In the opinion of journalist, historian and writer Odir Cunha, the change represented an evolution of the Taça Brasil. For some authors, the Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa was a modern football competition with everything required: few powerful participants, the best players in Brazil, great average crowds, high-level matches, credibility and excellent media coverage.
Due to its great popularity in Brazil, the military government saw football as an excellent opportunity to promote ufanism and the idea of national integration, intervening regularly in the sport. In practice, football was included in the ambitious National Integration Plan (PIN). However, not only politicians had an interest in the national championship, but several other social agents realized that they could benefit from the competition.
Placar magazine, which has always adopted a critical stance towards the administration of national football and considered the administrative model used by managers to be outdated, supported the organization of a championship that would bring together the main teams in Brazil and be fully integrated. Consequently, there were proposals to create a national club championship. The first arguments used were related to the expansion of the clubs' market within the country and the greater ease with which a rational calendar could be drawn up. They defended a championship of national proportions as an obligatory stage for the development of Brazilian football, even though this could lead to the bankruptcy of small clubs. With a cover headline that read: "Senhores Dirigentes, Eis o Campeonato Nacional" ("Gentlemen in Charge, Here's the National Championship"), the magazine's journalists introduced some managers (except those linked to the CBD who did not agree to talk to the newspaper) with an ideal calendar, including vacations, space for trips abroad and a rational schedule, in which the clubs would travel in a way that would reduce airfare costs, making the competition economically viable. Placar even debated how television would play a part in the clubs' budgets.
Fluminense's supervisor, Almir de Almeida, highlighted Brazil's territorial dimensions as the obstacle to the creation of a new tournament, arguing that the long journeys and varied climates would have an impact on the teams' preparation; however, he emphasized the technical gains with the total integration of Brazilian football. The president of Atlético Mineiro said that it was the CBD's responsibility to hold the tournament, as "the Robertão is already outdated" since the participating teams were chosen by João Havelange, and a country that was three times world champion should organize a championship to match. Felício Brandi, president of Cruzeiro, said that his team would fight for the Campeonato Nacional. On the other hand, still in Minas Gerais, João Frota, director of Flamengo de Varginha, stated that it would be the end of the small teams. In the south, the directors of Grêmio and Internacional were united in their opposition to the championship on the basis proposed by the magazine. In Bahia, the directors of Vitória were in favor, while those of Bahia thought that the Robertão was the ideal championship and didn't need to be reformulated.
Part of the press took advantage of Placar's critical position to also demonstrate its opinion on the situation of national football. On October 10, 1970, with the article "As derrotas de um futebol sem estrutura" ("The defeats of an unstructured football"), Folha de S. Paulo endorsed Placar's comments and harshly criticized the leaders who were seen as aberrations and incompatible with the dynamics of soccer, boycotting any attempt at organization. The effects of the series published by Placar also ended up reaching Brasilia. On September 24, 1970, the Minister of Education and Culture, Jarbas Passarinho, presented a series of suggestions for reforms in the structure of Brazilian sport to the National Sports Council (CND). Many of the proposals he requested had been in the magazine since its inception. Faced with pressure, the CBD promised a new calendar for 1971.
However, before the start of the new national tournament, the last edition of the Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa took place, whose first round was held on September 6, 1970, with the aim of finding out the best Brazilian football team of the "year of the Brazil's third championship". Some authors consider it to be the most difficult national competition ever held, as Roberto Sander states in his book Taça de Prata de 1970 - O Campeonato Brasileiro mais difícil de todos os tempos. The regulations and the number of participants (seventeen teams) were the same as in the previous two editions. The changes involved only the participants, as Portuguesa were replaced by Ponte Preta, who had excelled in the Campeonato Paulista that year and managed to be included by the CBD, and in Paraná, Atlético Paranaense took Coritiba's place. For Placar, the uninteresting games of the state championships would be left behind with the start of the Taça de Prata (the name by which the tournament became known that year). José Maria de Aquino, in his column in the magazine, said that the competition would be the "right way to go when you want to save the eternal financial deficit" of Brazilian football. On the other hand, Jornal do Brasil treated the Robertão as the most important championship in Brazilian soccer, regretting the fact that no club from Rio de Janeiro had yet won the trophy.
Announced as the greatest tournament of all time, the 1970 Robertão would bring together the twenty best clubs in the country. The criteria used by the CBD to include the teams, the lack of adequate time for the clubs to prepare for the tournament and even the competition's schedule were criticized. However, judging by the first round after the start of the tournament, the large number of classics managed to overshadow the existing problems. Along with the first match, the Bola de Prata was created, along with the Placar ranking. The aim was to bring Brazilian football closer to the great events taking place around the world, with awards similar to the Oscars and the European Golden Shoe.
The unprecedented national title for a club from Rio de Janeiro took place in the fourth and final edition of the Robertão. On December 25, 1970, Placar carried extensive coverage of the finals of the Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa/Taça de Prata and printed the headline "O Flu é o campeão do Brasil! Acabou o Torneio da Bola de Prata" ("Flu is the champion of Brazil! The Torneio da Bola de Prata is over"). Hedyl Valle Júnior's column reviewed the competition, pointing out that the Taça de Prata wasn't bad, but it could have been better.
However, despite its national scope, the Robertão was not seen by some of the press as the real Campeonato Nacional. Teams played up to nineteen matches in a competition spanning just three months. In October 1970, Placar magazine, in its outspoken campaign for a new national tournament that would fully integrate the biggest clubs in the country, published an article entitled "O Robertão é quase um Campeonato Nacional. O Campeonato Nacional é nossa grande solução" ("The Robertão is almost a Campeonato Nacional. The Campeonato Nacional is our great solution"). In this publication, the coaches of some of Brazil's leading teams complained about the lack of financial viability and disorganized travel. In addition, there was a latent discussion about the problems of the scope of the championship, with clubs choosing without criteria.
On the other hand, some of the press, as well as the CBD itself, which declared Fluminense Brazilian champions in its official bulletin in 1971, considered the Robertão to be the real national championship. Jornal do Brasil, which in 1967, after the creation of the Robertão, defended the fact that this championship of national proportions was an important moment in the history of Brazilian football, added: "The hope of better income and higher quality spectacles than those provided by the state championships seemed to be coming true, since the creation of a national championship would rationalize the calendar, even making it possible for foreign clubs to come to Brazil, and would strengthen the Brazilian national team, as players from other centers could be useful to the squad, which had lost the World Cup in 1966 to England." The Jornal dos Sports, as well as Placar itself - despite its demands for a new national competition - considered Fluminense to be the 1970 Brazilian champions.
The development demanded by Placar and other press outlets involved the creation of the Campeonato Nacional de Clubes. The pressure came from journalists, some managers, the Minister of Culture, Jarbas Passarinho and other politicians linked to ARENA. The CBD responded by promising changes to the 1971 calendar, both for the clubs and for the Brazilian national team. New times were being announced.