Brazilian Men's Volleyball Superliga

Superliga Brasileira de Voleibol

Formerly	Liga Nacional Campeonato Brasileiro
Sport	Volleyball
Founded	1976, current format since 1994
Owner(s)	Brazilian Volleyball Confederation (CBV)
No. of teams	12
Country	Brazil
Most recent champion(s)	Sada Cruzeiro (2015–16)
Most titles	Minas (7)
TV partner(s)	SporTV and Globo
Level on pyramid	1
Official website	superliga.com.br

The Brazilian Volleyball Super League (Portuguese: Superliga Brasileira de Voleibol) is the top level Brazilian professional volleyball competition. It is organized by the Brazilian Volleyball Confederation. It shares the same name as the women's tournament, and are disputed simultaneously. The number of participating clubs varies every year. The champion team qualifies for the South American Championship.

History

First competitions

Until the early 1960s, there were only state volleyball competitions in Brazil. A national level competition was inconceivable, because of the geographical distances and lack of transportation infrastructure. Only in 1962 the first national volleyball competition was disputed, the Guarani Trophy of Champion clubs (Portuguese: Troféu Guarani de Clubes Campeões).^[1] The competition was disputed two more times, being rename in 1964 to Brazilian Championship of Champion Clubs (Portuguese: Campeonato Brasileiro de Clubes Campeões). In 1965 started a three-years hiatus without a national level competition, until the Brazilian Trophy (Portuguese: Taça Brasil) was organized in 1968 with teams from Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Minas Gerais. It was organized in such format until 1975.

Fully national competition and professionalism

Only in 1976, the competition was opened to amateur clubs from all Brazilian states, and became truly national. It was renamed to Brazilian Championship (Portuguese: Campeonato Brasileiro) and was held every second year. In 1980 the Brazilian Championship had a major reorganization, becoming an annual competition and allowing professional teams for the first time. The competition's format changed in 1988, and started to follow the northern hemisphere calendar. Also, it was renamed to Brazilian National League (Portuguese: Liga Nacional). The competition was disputed under this format between the seasons 1988-89 and 1993-94.^[2]

The foundation of Super League

There was a last major change in the organization of the competition in the 1994-95 season. Again, it was renamed to Brazilian National Super League (Portuguese: Superliga Nacional). The first champion of the tournament, with the present format, was Frangosul/Ginástica.^[3]

List of champions

Campeonato Brasileiro

Liga Nacional

Superliga

Titles by team

Women's league

The Women's Superliga most successful team have been Rio de Janeiro Vôlei Clube with eleven titles, since the creation of the Superliga, when Leites Nestlé won three consecutives titles from 1994/95 to 1996/97.^[4][5]

References

1. ↑ "Lista de Clubes Campeões Brasileiros de Voleibol" [List of Brazilian Volleyball Champions] (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2014-08-04. 
2. ↑ Confederação Brasileira de Voleibol (2010). "A História da Superliga" (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2011-05-04. 
3. ↑ Portal Sol Brilhando (2008). "Campeoes da Superliga" (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2011-05-04. 
4. ↑ Portal Sol Brilhando (2008). "Campeoes da Superliga" (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2011-05-04. 
5. ↑ Confederação Brasileira de Voleibol (2010). "A História da Superliga" (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2011-05-04. 

External links

• (Portuguese) Superliga official website
• (Portuguese) Confederação Brasileira de Voleibol (CBV) official website