Country Brazil Number of teams 12 | Founded 1915 Domestic cup(s) Copa do Brasil | |
 | ||
Confederation CBF
Federação Mineira de Futebol Current champions América (16th title)
(2016) | ||
Campeonato Mineiro is the state football league of the state of Minas Gerais and is controlled by the Minas Gerais Football Federation FMF (Federação Mineira de Futebol).
Contents
The history of Campeonato Mineiro can be divided into two parts: before and after the construction of the Mineirão, in September 1966. The Mineirão is the biggest soccer stadium of Minas Gerais and it is located in Minas Gerais' state capital, Belo Horizonte. Before the stadium's inauguration América and Atlético were the most successful teams in the state, but after the construction of the Mineirão, known as the "Era Mineirão" ("Mineirão Era"), another team from the capital, Cruzeiro, also gained prominence. Atlético is the most successful team in the competition, having won 43 championships as of 2015.
As with many other Brazilian football state leagues, the Campeonato Mineiro is much older than the Brazilian League itself. This is partly because in the early 20th century Brazil did not have a well established transportation and communication infrastructure, that could help it organize a national league in the country, which was made worse by the nation's enormous size.
Many of the best players in Brazilian football were first seen in the Campeonato Mineiro, players like Reinaldo, Cerezo, Éder, Ronaldo, Dario and Tostão had their professional football debut in the competition.
Titles by team
RSSSF