Brazilian league question?

I am thinking about starting a save with a Brazilian team, preferably Sao Paulo or Santos but I am unsure as to what date to use. What would people reccomend?

And if possible can people give me more info about how this league works because it gives me a possible start for December 2009 but doesnt that mean there should be no title holder?

I am thinking about starting a save with a Brazilian team, preferably Sao Paulo or Santos but I am unsure as to what date to use. What would people reccomend?

And if possible can people give me more info about how this league works because it gives me a possible start for December 2009 but doesnt that mean there should be no title holder?

Have a look at my Santos thread > http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/244341-FM11-Santos-FC-Home-of-the-fish.

Scroll down to 'What happens in Brazil' and it'll give you more info. The Season is January > December with various competitions that i've detailed in the thread

My squad analysis etc is done pre 11.3, so some of it isn't relevant anymore, but most still is

woow, that was an excellent thread Swisso, never noticed it, are you Brazilian? The league sounds quite complicated but regarding the Copa Libertadoes..(something like that) if you do not have the other South American leagues downloaded from other countries the competition is going to be less competitive aint it as many of the players from other countries will be greyed out

That's true to some extent and if you manage to build a good team with Santos, then you'll certaintly dominate the Copa Libertadores. I won it every year, something like 8 times in a row. The challenge i suppose, comes in pitting yourself against the European teams in the World Club Championship held at the end of the year, a convenient time for Brazilian Clubs as they've just finished their season.

The League isn't really difficult, it's basically setup in this fashion:

- clubs compete in a 'regional' League from January for a few months, with other clubs from that region (state), some are terrible, some are top teams.

- once that's done, everyone competes in the normal Leagues; Serie A, B, C etc.

- then you've got the the Copa Lib (Champions League) and the Copa Sud (Europa League), the major and minor Continental Comps.

The Prize Money in South America is small and the money made from Matches is small, so you'll mostly be seeing high sponsorship deals (i had £33m of sponsorship in 2018, more than most European clubs).

So what date do you start with when playing FM?

I just started in 2010 i think, it really doesn't matter

May give it a try, Just unsure out of Santos, Sao Paulo or Flamnengo and I am thinking about downloading other South American countries just to make the Copa Liber.... more competitive

With Santos, you've got Neymar, Ganso, Tiago Alves, Ze Eduardo, Alan Patrick, Felipe Anderson, Alex Santos, Arouca, Elano and Diogo on Loan

Probably the best time to manage them really

Its up to you if you want to load other South American nations, but the quality doesn't really improve with playable teams/leagues added. They're still just as poor, except now they have more poor players and they cost more to sign

Thanks for the advice mate. I noticed Santos abundance of good players but I am surprised that they are predicted to finish 9th.

I am thinking about downloading a lot of European leagues just incase good offers come in for my players. BTW what European leages do you download and do you download the Argentinian League?

Also, what is the point of having a state championship if there are some easy teams, shouldn't it just be the normal Serie A?

I just had another look at the league and I am confused again. Dtarting in December 2010 the team has already played fixtures in the Copa Sudamericana, what is that and what are the ads and dis ads of this and although I have not had a league fixture it says Neymar has scored 17 goals. Confused and I aslo have two separate league tables, i thought you said you have to qualify to reach a next stage but I got two massive leagues

Last two things did you have trouble in keeping Neymar and are you a Santos fan by chance?

didnt ganso sign for milan ?

Thanks for the advice mate. I noticed Santos abundance of good players but I am surprised that they are predicted to finish 9th.

I am thinking about downloading a lot of European leagues just incase good offers come in for my players. BTW what European leages do you download and do you download the Argentinian League?

Also, what is the point of having a state championship if there are some easy teams, shouldn't it just be the normal Serie A?

I just had another look at the league and I am confused again. Dtarting in December 2010 the team has already played fixtures in the Copa Sudamericana, what is that and what are the ads and dis ads of this and although I have not had a league fixture it says Neymar has scored 17 goals. Confused and I aslo have two separate league tables, i thought you said you have to qualify to reach a next stage but I got two massive leagues

Last two things did you have trouble in keeping Neymar and are you a Santos fan by chance?

It's a shame PMLF doesn't post in here, because he's a fountain of knowledge regarding Brazil, but i believe the State Championships, particulary the Campeonato Paulista (Sao Paulo State) were created first way back in the early 1900's and the formation of the National Serie A came much later in the 1940's or 1950's. Given the size of the country it's no surprise really, you have a few 'elitist' cities dotted around the coast and very little else, so why would the likes of Sao Paulo want to compete against a small town 500 miles away?

The Copa Sudamericana is the 'minor' continental competition for teams who finish the League outside the Copa Libertadores places (the major continental competition). Don't forget that competitions and leagues overlap each other, they don't all flow seamlessly, the Copa Sudamericana finishes in December so will have just finished by the time you've started your game. If Neymar has scored 17 goals, it looks like Santos have done well in it then

The 2 Leagues you'll see are the State Championships and the National First Division, you compete in the State Champs first, then the National First Division afterwards.

I had no problems keeping Neymar, largely because in patch 11.2, there were transfer problems where big clubs wouldn't bid on players, so nobody ever tried to sign Neymar, but that might change in 11.3.

Thanks for the advice mate but does the Copa Sudamericana that finishes before you start your save in December have any bearings on what happens later on in your save and I am confused as to why it says 17 league goals if i have not had any league fixtures and just matter of interest what makes you start in 2010?

As far as i'm aware, no it doesn't have any effect. Maybe a club reputation increase?

17 League goals is because although you start in December, the Season Update day isn't until Januiary 2nd, so some stats will still be there. When you join in December, the season hasn't officially ended yet, so stats will still appear.

No idea why i chose 2010, it didn't make any difference, i just wanted to start later.

State Championships

As regards the championships, the state championships were founded in a period from the 1900's to 1993. The earliest was the Paulista State in 1902 (Sao Paolo having most of the early teams), and most of the more established clubs are from states with leagues dating from, at the latest, the '20's. There was a rash of foundations during the second world war (most probably to formation of new states, but I'm not 100% on that) and a few more recent ones from the newest states carved out of the Amazon, the most recent being the Campeonato Tocantinense. These state championships were originally the pinnacle of Brazilian club football, and even now are the primary means of qualification fro the Brazilian Cup. They are organised in a variety of ways, but most have a knockout playoff to decide the winner after the league stage.

They can be annoying but if you're in a state with only a few top teams (e.g. Internacional or Gremio in the Gaucho) they are ideal in the game for developing young prospects, though you'll need a large squad as games are Saturday-Wednesday.

In real life I've read the main reason for their continued existance is the power of the state associations in the CBF and in reality the Campeonato Paulista is the only one with the financial power to make a fully compeditive (good quality) league possible. The rest are usually one or two big leagues dominating tiny teams, or a group of tiny teams. Season is January to May.

Campeonato Serie A

The national league has been running since 1959, and has had many different formats since then, including not having two successive years using the same format from 1971 to 2003. There have been legal battles galore over winners and relegation and rules have been known to change mid-season to keep major clubs in the top division (I believe it happened for Fluminese back in the '80's or '90's). However that changed in 2003 when the CBF, in an unusual step of actually doing something to help the game, formalised the championship mostly along the lines of every other national championship. Despite some minor differences with placing rules the league is now virtually indistinguishable from it's European counterparts, except that it is usually far more compeditive than anywhere else. Season is May to December.

NB The Serie B follows the same format, while the Serie C is broken up into 5 smaller regional groupings with a end of season play-off.

Copa do Brasil

The youngest of the major Brazilian competitions (founded in 1989), the cup is a straight 64 team two-legged knockout competition. Qualification is from the 10 best teams in the CBF rankings from the last season (i.e. the top ten league teams who didn't qualify otherwise) and from 1 to 3 teams from each state league (depending on size). There is an unusual rule which means it is impossible to win the cup back to back. The cup winner qualifies for the Copa Libertadores which means they do not enter the cup and so a new team will always appear on the trophy each year. Season is January to June

Another distinguishing feature is that in the first two rounds if the away team (always the higher division one) wins by 2 goals or more in the first leg no second leg is played (partly to keep costs for some of the tiny clubs who play in it down, and partly to ease the fixture log).

Copa Libertadores

The Libertadores is the equivalent of the Champions League with multiple entrants from leagues in COMNEBOL and Mexico (who were invited since 2004). 38 teams enter. The format is similar with a pre-qualification knockout stage to weed out the weakest teams, and then divided into 8 groups of four top two qualifying to the knock-out stages. It's been in the running since 1960 only five years younger than the original European Cup. While money is not as easy to come by out of this competition the prestige of winning it is at a similar level and of course it virtually guarantees your club a place in the WCC final if you win it. Season is February to June (usually).

Copa Sudamericana

The equivalent of the Europa League, the format here is not as convoluted as it is a straight knockout and there are no loser qualifiers coming in at a late stage from the bigger tournament. As with the Copa do Brasil it is a new entry merging the Copa Mecursor (based around a trading block), the Copa Merconorte (the countries not in the trading bloc) and the Copa COMNEBOL into one competition in 2002. 39 teams enter so there are three rounds before you see all the competing teams play, but as it is a straight knock out the most you'll play here is 14 games. Season is from June to December (Wiki is not certain on this).

So as you can see Brazil has you playing all year around with only a 3 week break in December, and if you're from a smaller state a few weeks in April (between the state and national championships), giving a very busy season of up to 70 games.

My advice is to try for a large first team squad. In European leagues I hover between 20 and 25 players (with youth back-up), but in Brazil I often aim for closer to 30 (the worse of them dropping to the reserves for long periods). Wages will be hard to maintain early on especially if you have a big name with a contract due, mainly because of European sharks, but negotiations will often reach a good compromise. The first season will be difficult financially as all clubs are at best Secure (mostly OK) meaning about £5m to play with total. But sponsorship money and club memberships will pull in bigger amounts than most European clubs and you can always sell the crown jewels for big money.

Losing the state championship can get you sacked so aim for the final at least if you're a big club and whatever the board want if you're small. The cup can be ignored unless you're a mid table team and get a favourable early draw.

There will be opportunities to bring back mid-level Brazilian players from Europe (though in early seasons you may not have the money to sign them, and definitely scout them), and there will be a large number of players at your club on loan (if they are worse than your team ship them back). There are also a suprisingly large number of good solid players, both young and old, playing for smaller clubs so get your scouts out early and often, and you might find some diamonds in the rough.

Transfer windows

First: January to Apri, domestic and foreign.

Second: December to next January, domestic and foreign.

Third: January to September, domestic only.

NB The Bosman rule of contract is not used in Brazil so if you are looking for players out of contract scout them beforehand as you may lose out to the computer.

Confused, forgive me. How comes you said domestic from January to April and then January to September for domestic transfers aswell.

Thanks for the info on all the competitions. How ,amy different countries compete in the Copa Libertadores btw and because I do not know where Santos finished irl last season, will I automatically be entered into this Champions League

BTW can I also know what date you would also reccomend and do you have a Santos save?

January is start, April is cut off for foreign transfers is in April, and domestic ones in September. I'm sorry for the confusion but I was transcribing from the game.

Personally I'd go for 2010 as none of the other countries you pick will have games and I believe 2009 will throw out the Libertadores (due to it officially starting in December I think, it did it in FM10). That's when I started my Internacional save (I also have one where I simmed to 2025 before going with Sport Recife).

Santos get into the Libertadores through winning the Copa do Brasil, they came 8th in 2010 (which would have qualified them for the Copa Sudamerica).

I forgot to mention the Recopa, but it is at the same level and format as any preseason Supercup (Libertadores vs Sudamerica winners).

Thanks a lot for the help. Because I am going to start in 2010 and the team has already played fixtures in the Copa Sudamericana does it really matter if the team is automatically out. For eg I started my save I was out on aggreggate against another team from Uruguay called Penarol. Does this affect how I will do in my future save in terms of appearing in competitions.

Another thing I made two saves with Santos just tosee which save I prefer and in one of them I was predicted to finish 9th and when I reloaded it i was predicted to finish 5th unsure as to why.

Truth is Sao Paulo and Santos have always been the core of the Brazilian national team. There was a time recently that the entire squad for the World Cup came out of the Sao Paulo and Santos academy. Flamengo and Fluminese also have amazing academies along with Internacional and Gremio.

Don't worry about being out of the Comp. It is a hangover from the fact that due to no real break the game starts you just before the season cut-off date (Jan. 2nd IIRC). In my International save the board were unhappy with me for a few days because the team got beat by TP Mazembe in the CWC Semis.