Campeonato Capixaba

The Campeonato Capixaba is the top tier soccer league from the state of Espirito Santo in Brazil, which was launched in 1917. This competition is also known as Capixabao. The competition grants access to the Copa Verde and the Copa do Brasil, while the winner also earns its promotion to Campeonato Nacional Serie D. The tournament is organized by the Federacao de Futebol do Estado do Espirito Santo (FES), which is supervised by the Brazilian Football Confederation.

Over the years, the Capixabao has been played under a promotion-relegation system, although the format has changed depending on how many teams are involved in the competition. The most recent editions of the tournament have been played by ten teams, with all of them playing against each other once during the regular season. The top eight teams enter the playoff stage, while the two clubs with the lowest number of points are relegated to the Serie B.

Once in the playoffs, all teams are seeded according to their performance in the regular season. The top team in the first games gets to play the 8th seed, and so on. All series, including the final, are played in a home-and-away format, with the higher-ranked team hosting the second leg. Penalties and extra time are used to determine a winner in case the aggregate is level after both games.

There have been many successful teams in this competition over the years, and in this region, Rio Branco is the best of them all, with over 35 titles to their name since the team was created. Other teams that have made a name for themselves in this region include Serra and Real Noroeste, who have won many titles during this century.