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Latin American Roundup Brazil adopts European model for national championshipPosted: Wednesday December 18, 2002 4:36 PMRIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) -- The Brazilian championship will use the conventional league system for the first time next year, a move commentators believe will provide a major boost for the country's domestic football. Officials from 23 of the 24 first division clubs voted that next year they will play each other twice and the team with the most points will win the title -- a time-honored system in the rest of the world but one which has been sidelined in Brazil in favour often incomprehensible formats. Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) director Virgilio Elision dismissed the commonly expressed fear that a club could run away with the lead and wrap up the title several rounds from the end. "I can assure you that on the last day the television networks will have to be at several stadiums because lots of teams will be involved," he said. "I have every confidence this will work." But Rio de Janeiro club Vasco da Gama were not convinced and refused to sign. "The everyone-versus-everyone system is suicide," said club president Eurico Miranda. Brazil has won a record five World Cups but the country's domestic football, victim of often chaotic organization, has never enjoyed the same prestige as the national team. A plethora of state, regional and national competitions, which change in shape and size from year to year, has made Brazilian domestic football almost incomprehensible for foreigners and locals alike. Championship squeezed The national championship was introduced in 1971 but has never used the same format two years running. It has usually been squeezed into just half the season, the rest being dedicated to state tournaments which have increasingly lost their appeal. This year a relatively straightforward system was used in which the 26 teams played each other once, with the top four being relegated and the top eight going into the knockout stages. But critics denounced the system as unfair after Sao Paulo won the first stage by five points from their nearest rivals only to be knocked out in the quarter-finals by Santos, who had qualified 13 points behind them. In previous years the championship rules have been criticized as not only unfair but also bizarre. Two years ago, the top two teams from the second division and the winners of the third qualified for the knockout stages along with half of the first division. In 1994, organizers invented a formula in which all 24 teams qualified for the second stage and were simply redistributed into groups. In 1979, when the then military government was accused of using football to deflect attention from other issues, nearly 100 clubs took part in the competition. Amnesty plague The championship has also been plagued by "amnesties" in which relegated clubs have been reinstated without playing in the second division. Tostao, who played in Brazil's 1970 World Cup-winning team, wrote in his newspaper column: "A championship decided on points is fairest and therefore has more credibility. "The teams will prepare better and nobody will form their team during the competition." The sports daily Lance stamped an editorial on its front page welcoming the decision. "It was a courageous decision made with the help of new directors," it said. "This is a model which can help us absolve the lessons from Europe and justify our destiny as a football power, not just on the pitch but off it as well." Zamorano returns to Chile, hopes to sign for Colo ColoSANTIAGO (Reuters) -- Veteran Chile striker Ivan Zamorano returned his homeland on Wednesday after nearly 15 years in European football and said he was close to joining Colo Colo, the team he supported as a boy but never played for. "We're very close. In fact I'm due to meet people from the club in the next few days," he told reporters at Santiago airport after his flight from Mexico, where he has spent the last two years with America Zamorano said he had turned down more lucrative offers to play in United States, Japan and Saudi Arabia in favour of Chile's most popular club, who were declared bankrupt at the start of this year but came out of administration last week. "It's something completely personal and, although I have had financially significant offers (from elsewhere), I put the human and sporting aspect first," he said. Zamorano, who scored 34 goals in 67 internationals, was also looking forward to playing in the Libertadores Cup, in which he has never taken part. "The idea of playing the Copa Libertadores attracts me more than ever. If I can do that with Colo Colo it would be spectacular," he said. Traveling man Colo Colo are the only Chilean club to have won the South American equivalent of the Champions League and will return to the fray in February after a three-year absence. Zamorano was raised with modest Cobresal before leaving to join Swiss club St Gallen in 1988. He went on to play for Sevilla in Spain and then Real Madrid, where he reached the peak of his career. He then spent an injury-hampered five seasons with Italy's Inter Milan before moving to America, where he had a modest scoring record but helped Mexico's richest club win their first domestic title for 13 years. Zamorano, whose international career ended in the friendly against France last year, said he was considering working in television when he retired but believed he could play for another couple of seasons. "Football is the passion of my life," he said.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
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