In 2009, the Campeonato Brasileiro Série C, the third level of the Brazilian League, was contested by 20 clubs from May 24 to September 19, 2009. In an attempt to increase profits and interest on the competition, CBF decided to reduce the number of participating teams from 64 to 20 this season and establish regular membership, akin to Série A and Série B.

In the finals, América Mineiro, a traditional club from the city of Belo Horizonte, defeated ASA after winning away and at home. Top four clubes, the ones which qualified to the quarterfinals, ascended to the Campeonato Brasileiro Série B to be contested in 2010: América Mineiro, ASA, Icasa and Guaratinguetá. Meanwhile, the bottom four clubs, the ones that finished in last place of each group, were relegated to Série D next season: Sampaio Corrêa, Confiança, Mixto and Marcílio Dias.

Team information

Team	City	State	Stadium	Capacity	2008 season
Águia de Marabá	Marabá	PA	Zinho de Oliveira	2,000	Série C 5th place
América Mineiro	Belo Horizonte	MG	Independência	18,000	Série C 20th place
ASA	Arapiraca	AL	Coaracy da Mata Fonseca	10,000	Série C 10th place
Brasil	Pelotas	RS	Bento Freitas	18,000	Série C 6th place
Caxias	Caxias do Sul	RS	Centenário	30,822	Série C 19th place
Confiança	Aracaju	SE	Batistão	22,000	Série C 7th place
CRB	Maceió	AL	Rei Pelé	30,000	Série B 20th place
Criciúma	Criciúma	SC	Heriberto Hülse	28,749	Série B 18th place
Gama	Gama	DF	Bezerrão	20,000	Série B 19th place
Guaratinguetá	Guaratinguetá	SP	Dario Rodrigues Leite	14,415	Série C 9th place
Icasa	Juazeiro do Norte	CE	Romeirão	20,000	Série C 18th place
Ituiutaba	Ituiutaba	MG	Fazendinha	5,000	Série C 12th place
Marcílio Dias	Itajaí	SC	Hercílio Luz	12,000	Série C 13th place
Luverdense	Lucas do Rio Verde	MT	Paço das Emas	6,500	Série C 16th place
Marília	Marília	SP	Bento de Abreu	17,500	Série B 17th place
Mixto	Cuiabá	MT	Verdão	47,000	Série C 14th place
Paysandu	Belém	PA	Estádio Olímpico do Pará	45,000	Série C 11th place
Rio Branco	Rio Branco	AC	Arena da Floresta	20,000	Série C 8th place
Salgueiro	Salgueiro	PE	Cornélio de Barros	6,000	Série C 15th place
Sampaio Corrêa	São Luís	MA	Castelão	70,000	Série C 17th place

Format

• First Stage: The 20 teams are divided in four groups of 5, playing within them in a double round-robin format. The two best ranked in each group advance towards next stage. The last placed team in each group is relegated to Série D 2010
• Quarterfinals: Eight qualified teams play in two-leg format, home and away. Winners qualify to semifinals and are promoted to Série B 2010.
• Semifinals: Quarterfinals winners play in two-leg format, home and away. Winners qualify to the Finals.
• Finals: Semifinals winners play in two-leg format, home and away. Winners are declared champions.

Results

First stage

Group A (AC-MA-MT-PA)

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		RBR	PAY	AGU	LUV	SCR
Rio Branco	8	4	0	4	15	12	+3	12			4–0	2–1	3–0	3–1
Paysandu	8	3	3	2	11	12	−1	12		3–1		2–1	1–1	1–0
Águia de Marabá	8	3	2	3	12	12	0	11		1–0	2–2		0–2	2–2
Luverdense	8	3	2	3	8	9	−1	11		2–0	3–2	0–2		0–0
Sampaio Corrêa	8	2	3	3	10	11	−1	9		4–2	0–0	2–3	1–0

Source:

Group B (AL-CE-PE-SE)

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		ICA	ASA	SAL	CRB	CON
Icasa	8	5	2	1	15	4	+11	17			0–0	3–0	2–0	4–0
ASA	8	5	1	2	13	7	+6	16		2–1		3–0	2–1	5–2
Salgueiro	8	4	1	3	8	12	−4	13		1–1	1–0		1–0	2–1
CRB	8	2	0	6	8	12	−4	6		1–2	0–1	3–1		2–1
Confiança	8	2	0	6	9	18	−9	6		0–2	2–0	1–2	2–1

Source:

Group C (DF-MT-MG-SP)

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		AME	GUA	ITU	GAM	MIX
América Mineiro	8	5	1	2	12	6	+6	16			2–0	2–1	2–0	5–1
Guaratinguetá	8	5	0	3	15	12	+3	15		2–0		2–1	5–2	4–1
Ituiutaba	8	3	2	3	13	8	+5	11		0–0	3–0		2–1	5–0
Gama	8	2	2	4	11	14	−3	8		2–0	1–2	1–1		2–0
Mixto	8	2	1	5	8	19	−11	7		0–1	2–0	2–0	2–2

Source:

Group D (RS-SC-SP)

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		CAX	BRA	MAR	CRI	MCD
Caxias	8	5	1	2	10	6	+4	16			1–0	1–1	1–0	4–1
Brasil	8	5	1	2	12	9	+3	16		1–0		2–1	1–0	2–1
Marília	8	4	3	1	14	8	+6	15		2–0	1–1		2–0	3–2
Criciúma	8	2	1	5	6	12	−6	7		0–1	3–2	1–1		1–4
Marcílio Dias	8	1	0	7	12	19	−7	3		1–2	2–3	1–3	0–1

Source:

References