Copa Rio (state cup)

The Copa Rio (English: Rio Cup) is a regional cup competition for football clubs in the Rio de Janeiro state. It is run by the Rio de Janeiro State Football Federation. Volta Redonda has the record for most trophies won.

As of 2025, the competition's rules exclude all national Série A and Série B clubs, with participation optional for clubs in Série C. Copa Rio champions are given a choice between qualifying for the following year's Copa do Brasil or Série D, with the runner-up qualifying for the competition that the winner didn't choose. The competition's participants include 8 Rio de Janeiro State Série A clubs, 8 Série A2 clubs, 4 Série B1 clubs and 4 Série B2 clubs.

History

The competition was founded in 1991 by the Rio de Janeiro State Football Federation to decide one of the Rio de Janeiro's Copa do Brasil representatives of the following year (the other being the Campeonato Carioca champion). If the state champion had also won Copa Rio, the representative would have been the tournament runner-up. However, in 1995 the Brazilian Football Confederation established the possibility of a club being invited to dispute Copa do Brasil, and, as a consequence of this, Copa Rio ended up not being interesting for the big teams, so it was discontinued. Flamengo won the first competition with Léo Júnior as captain. It started in April 20 and was concluded on 10 August 1991.

In 1996 and 1997, the competition was replaced by a similar competition disputed only by Rio de Janeiro state countryside clubs, commonly known as Copa do Interior (Portuguese for Countryside Cup). In 1998, there was an attempt to recreate Copa Rio, but without the qualification to Copa do Brasil. This attempt was a failure, and after three years, the competition was discontinued again. During that season only Flamengo and Fluminense participated from the Rio's Big 4, while none of them joined the competition in the following year and only Botafogo in 2000. Thus, the Rio Cup started losing its shine in the decade to follow.

In 2008, the third-placed team (Madureira) was eligible to play in Copa Rio-Espírito Santo. In 2005 and in 2007, the competition was held again, but without the participation of the big clubs of the state, and again without qualification to Copa do Brasil.

Champions

Capital and interior winners

The competition was split in two groups with separate finals from 1991 to 1995.

Copa do Rio

Titles by club

Copa do Interior

List of champions

Titles by team

Records and statistics

Participations of Big Four

Rio's Big Four participated in the early competitions. Their last appearance was in 2000 before the Cup went on hiatus. Botafogo is the only club out of the 4 that never won the competition.

Topscorers

Winning managers and captains

See also

• Campeonato Carioca

External links

• [permanent dead link]