Copa Verde


The Copa Verde is an annual regional knockout football competition that started in 2014, and played by 24 teams from the North and Central-West regions, plus Espírito Santo.
Initially, the champion of the tournament gained a place in the next year's Copa Sudamericana. With the changes implemented by CONMEBOL in 2016 causes a competition no longer qualify in Copa Sudamericana from edition. The champion will now have a spot in the Round of 16 of the Copa do Brasil of the following year. The cup will be organized by the Brazilian Football Confederation, with two-legged playoff games played from February to May between the 18 participating teams.

History

The tournament was created with the purpose of making a North Region version of the Copa do Nordeste, hence the name Verde, meaning green, is an allusion to the Amazon Forest. The competition was expanded to include clubs from the Central-West Region and from Espírito Santo state. The competition was officially announced in September by the competitions director of the Brazilian Football Confederation.

Costs

Since its first edition, in 2014, the Brazilian Sports Ministry along with the television channel TV Esporte Interativo divided the travel costs of the teams. However, in May 2018, the channel announced that it will not renew the broadcast rights contract of the tournament.

List of champions

Note 1: Losing semi-finalists are listed in alphabetical order.
Note 2: On July 28, 2014, the 2014 Copa Verde title was awarded to Paysandu, due to irregularities on the squad of Brasília. Brasília appealed against this decision and obtained a suspension which reversed this decision temporarily. A final decision by the Superior Court of Sports Justice declared Brasília as the champion.

Records and statistics

Finalists

ClubWinnersRunners-upYears wonYears runner-up
Paysandu232016, 20182014, 2017, 2019
Cuiabá202015, 2019—
Brasília102014—
Luverdense102017—
Remo01—2015
Gama01—2016
Atlético Itapemirim01—2018

Performance by State