With the reformulation of the Brazilian football calendar announced on Wednesday (1st) by CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation), the main clubs in the country should experience a reduction in the number of matches from 2026, although they still follow above the amount of peers games in Europe.
Considering the hypothesis of a Brazilian soccer elite team that advances to the finals of the main competitions of the calendar-these, Brazilian Championship, Brazil Cup, Brazil Super Cup, Copa Libertadores and South American Recopa-, he will enter the field up to 78 times in 2026.
The number represents a drop of about 8.2% over the 85 games that the team could reach by 2025.
The reduction is mainly due to the decrease of five state dates, from 16 games this season to 11 next season.
It also had weight for the smallest number of games the reformulation of the Brazilian Cup, where the Brazilian Serie A teams will enter the fifth phase, the last before the round of 16.
If a national first division team advances to the final – which is in a single game – it will make up to nine matches. Semifinalist of the current edition, Vasco debuted this year in the first phase and will have made 12 matches if it is champion.
There are also, in the national calendar for elite teams, the 38 rounds of the Brazilian Championship and up to 17 dates of the Copa Libertadores, if the team starts the walk in the preliminary phase, in addition to the possible dispute of the Brazilian Super Cup and Recopa South American.
Comparing, a team from England’s soccer elite can take the field in the current season 2025/26 up to 70 times, if it advances until the end of the main tournaments played.
In the European country, the teams face the 38 rounds of the Premier League, up to seven dates of the English League Cup, and six from the England Cup.
The reformulated Champions League occupies 17 more dates of the calendar – the team has to go through the playoff after the alloy phase to advance to the round of 16. Also adding a reserved date for the England Super Cup and one for the European Super Cup.
“Brazilian clubs will still follow a larger charge of games compared to Europe’s teams for a long time, at least until there are no states,” said Fernando Trevisan, director general of Trevisan School of Business and Specialist in Sports Marketing and Marketing.
“The state dispute is what really endes us differing from all the rest of the world, squeezing the local calendar,” he added.
“Despite the emptying of the state, the clubs will still have to play midweek and weekend at some point, a championship without the lowest value, just to please the federations,” said Amir Somoggi, director of consulting firm Sports Value.
Anyway, Trevisan said the CBF announcement the day before is a “first big step” within a process of greater rationalization of the Brazilian football calendar.
Under the new format, the Brazilian Championship will be played throughout the year, between January 28 and December 2, with the break for the World Cup, between June 11 and July 19, following the format of dispute for running points.
President of CBF, Samir Xaud said the changes are intended to reduce the load of elite teams, “which today face an exhaustive marathon throughout the year”, and expand the opportunity in national competitions to teams that spend inactive months in the current calendar.
“It is a matter of sports justice, sustainable development and balance,” said the leader. “We had to cut in the meat itself. I believe it was the best choice and that we will in the future harvest the fruits.”
“Perhaps in a next movement, we can think of new measures, also evaluating the results of the actions announced now. If not eliminating the state, at least compensating in other ways the participation of large teams in other tournaments, so as to get closer to the international scenario,” said Trevisan.
