Torneio Rio – São Paulo

Organising body	FPF
Founded	1933 (1933) (reestablished in 1993)
Abolished	2002 (2002)
Region	Rio de Janeiro (state) and São Paulo (state), Brazil
Qualifier for	Copa dos Campeões 2000–2002
Most successful club(s)	Palmeiras (5) Corinthians (5) Santos (5)

The Torneio Rio – São Paulo (English: Rio – São Paulo Tournament) was a traditional Brazilian football competition contested between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro teams from 1933 to 1966, in 1993 and from 1997 to 2002.

Organized by the state football associations of the state of São Paulo and the city of Rio de Janeiro (after unification of the states of Guanabara and Rio de Janeiro), the official name of the tournament became the Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa in 1954, named after former goalkeeper of the Brazilian national team and president of the São Paulo Football Association who died in that year. This name was not broadly popularized used until 1967 when the tournament was first opened to teams from the states of Minas Gerais, Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul, and later also from Pernambuco and Bahia. The Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa, also often referred to as Taça de Prata (Silver Cup) and contested until 1970, is generally considered the predecessor of the Brazilian Football Championship which started in 1971.

Due to its continental size and historical peculiarities, Brazil has a short history of national competitions, with the modern Campeonato Brasileiro starting in 1971 supported by the military regime and only made possible due to the improvements in civil aviation and air transport. In 2010, the CBF officially recognized the expanded Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa from 1967 to 1970 as a legitimate national championship, although as of 2022, the CBF does not officially recognize the pre-1967 Torneio Rio – São Paulo as a national championship. In the era prior to officially recognized national competition, given that the majority of Brazil's strongest teams were located in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, some historians consider that up until 1959, despite its schedule irregularity, the Torneio Rio – São Paulo was the most prestigious title for any team to claim outside of state championships.

From 2000 to 2002, the Torneio Rio – São Paulo champions were granted qualification to the Copa dos Campeões.

List of champions

Round-robin format

Season	Champions	Runners-up
1933	Palestra Itália (1)	São Paulo
1934	Not finished
1935–1939	Not held
1940	Interrupted in the first half, there was no champion
1941–1949	Not held
1950	Corinthians (1)	Vasco da Gama
1951	Palmeiras (2)	Corinthians
1952	Portuguesa (1)	Vasco da Gama
1953	Corinthians (2)	Vasco da Gama
1954	Corinthians (3)	Fluminense
1955	Portuguesa (2)	Palmeiras
1956	Not held
1957	Fluminense (1)	Flamengo Vasco da Gama
1958	Vasco da Gama (1)	Flamengo
1959	Santos (1)	Vasco da Gama
1960	Fluminense (2)	Botafogo
1961	Flamengo (1)	Botafogo
1962	Botafogo (1)	São Paulo
1963	Santos (2)	Corinthians
1964	Botafogo (2) Santos (3)	—
1965	Palmeiras (3)	Vasco da Gama
1966	Botafogo (3) Corinthians (4) Santos (4) Vasco da Gama (2)	—

Knockout format

Season	Champions	Runners-up
1993	Palmeiras (4)	Corinthians
1994–1996	Not held
1997	Santos (5)	Flamengo
1998	Botafogo (4)	São Paulo
1999	Vasco da Gama (3)	Santos
2000	Palmeiras (5)	Vasco da Gama
2001	São Paulo (1)	Botafogo
2002	Corinthians (5)	São Paulo

Titles by team

Rank	Club	Winners	Winning years	Runners-up	Runners-up years
1	Corinthians	5	1950, 1953, 1954, 1966 (shared), 2002	3	1951, 1963, 1993
	Palmeiras		1933, 1951, 1965, 1993, 2000	1	1955
	Santos		1959, 1936, 1964 (shared), 1966 (shared), 1997		1999
4	Botafogo	4	1962, 1964 (shared), 1966 (shared), 1998	3	1960, 1961, 2001
5	Vasco da Gama	3	1958, 1966 (shared), 1999	7	1950, 1952, 1953, 1957, 1959, 1965, 2000
6	Fluminense	2	1957, 1960	1	1954
	Portuguesa		1952, 1955	0	—
8	São Paulo	1	2001	4	1933, 1962, 1998, 2002
	Flamengo		1961	3	1957, 1958, 1997

Titles by state

Rank	State	Wins
1	São Paulo	18
2	Rio de Janeiro	10

Participations

Club	App
Corinthians	26
Palmeiras
Vasco da Gama
Fluminense	25
Flamengo
São Paulo
Botafogo	23
Santos	22
Portuguesa	21
America	14
Bangu	8
Bonsucesso	2
AA São Bento	1
Americano
Guarani
Olaria
Paulista de Jundiaí
Ponte Preta
São Caetano
São Cristóvão
Ypiranga

• Includes 1934 edition

Top Scorers

Following is the list with all Torneio-Rio São Paulo top scorers:^[1]

Winning managers

Year	Manager	Club
1933	Humberto Cabelli	Palestra Itália
1950	Christino Calaf	Corinthians
1951	Ventura Cambón	Palmeiras
1952	Jim López	Portuguesa
1953	Rato Castelli	Corinthians
1954	Osvaldo Brandão	Corinthians
1955	Délio Neves	Portuguesa
1957	Sylvio Pirillo	Fluminense
1958	Francisco de Souza Ferreira (Gradim)	Vasco da Gama
1959	Lula	Santos
1960	Zezé Moreira	Fluminense
1961	Fleitas Solich	Flamengo
1962	Marinho Rodrigues	Botafogo
1963	Lula	Santos
1964	Ephigênio de Freitas	Botafogo
	Lula	Santos
1965	Filpo Núñez	Palmeiras
1966	Admildo Chirol	Botafogo
	Lula	Santos
	Osvaldo Brandão	Corinthians
	Zezé Moreira	Vasco da Gama
1993	Vanderlei Luxemburgo	Palmeiras
1997	Vanderlei Luxemburgo	Santos
1998	Gílson Nunes	Botafogo
1999	Antônio Lopes	Vasco da Gama
2000	Luiz Felipe Scolari	Palmeiras
2001	Vadão	São Paulo
2002	Carlos Alberto Parreira	Corinthians

References

External links

• Tournament at RSSSF
• (in Portuguese) Matches which decided Rio – São Paulo Tournament at RSSSF
• (in Portuguese) Gazeta Esportiva's History Prior to the Brasileirão
• (in Portuguese) Gazeta Esportiva's History of the Rio – SP Tournament