Taça Guanabara

The Taça Guanabara (English: Guanabara Cup) is an annual football tournament attached to the Campeonato Carioca, the state football league in the Rio de Janeiro state. It has been organized since 1965 by the Rio de Janeiro State Football Federation. It has had different formats throughout its history.

In its first seven editions (1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970 and 1971), the Taça Guanabara was a tournament in its own right, unrelated to the Campeonato Carioca, and the winner would represent Rio de Janeiro in the Taça Brasil national league competition. From 1972 onward, the cup became the first round of the Campeonato Carioca. Since 2021, the Taça Guanarabara is the first single round-robin phase of the Campeonato Carioca.

The most successful team in the tournament's history is Flamengo, who have won 25 times.

Format

The Taça Guanabara and the Taça Rio has become, throughout its history, recognized for the various changes in its format, causing confusion for many spectators.

Since 2021, the Taça Guanarabara is the first single round-robin phase of the Campeonato Carioca, played by 12 teams. The team that finishes with the most points is the champion. The four best teams advance to the final stage of the Campeonato Carioca, and the clubs that finished 5th to 8th places compete in the Taça Rio.

From 2026 onwards, it will divide the clubs into two groups of six each, with matches against the clubs in the other group, which will classify the top four from each group for the next phase.