Campeonato Potiguar

The Campeonato Potiguar is a football competition created in 1918 to be played by teams from the region of Rio Grande do Norte in Brazil. It is usually played during the first months of the calendar year, kicking off in January and coming to an end in mid-April. The competition is organized by the Federacao Norte-rio-grandense de Futebol and the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF).

The competition has been forced to update its format throughout the years due to several changes in the number of teams playing the tournament each year and other issues. Currently, eight teams play in the top-flight of the Potiguar Championship, which welcomes clubs from the cities of Natal, Ceará-Mirim, Mossoró, or Currais Novos, among others.

Each season, the championship sees all eight teams being drawn into two groups of four. The first stage of the competition has all teams from a group facing each other, which means each one will play six times. The teams with the best record in each group enter the finals, where they play one-leg playoffs to advance to the final and to determine the champion.

The second round of games starts with all teams facing those in the other group once, which means they need to play four more games. The top teams in each group reach the finals in a similar format, and the club with the best record will get the home-field advantage for the title clash.

Added to the championship, each year’s winner gets access to the Brazilian Serie D, the Copa do Nordeste, and the Copa do Brasil. The teams ranked from second to fourth also get access to other tournaments. In terms of relegation, the team with the lowest number of points after both competitions will get demoted to the Second Division of the Campeonato Potiguar.

Two teams have stood out over the rest as time has gone by in this competition: ABC and América de Natal. ABC have won more title than any other team, with over fifty league titles to their name.