He Brazilian championship 2025 starts this Saturday with Flamengo and Palmeiras Again as favorites, waiting for what a Botafogo that conquered the League and the Libertadores in 2024 but that was disassembled. Regardless of the favorites, the ‘Brasileirao’ will have as attractive this year the return of players who were abroad, of which without any doubt it stands out Neymarwhich will reinforce Santos At least until July.
Flamengo and Palmeiras depart as the great favorites of all analysts because they are the clubs with the most expensive casts in South America, those with the greatest financial muscles and those that have rotated in the conquest of titles in recent years. Flamengo, third in the league last year, defeated the Libertadores in 2019 and 2022, the Brazilian championship in 2019 and 2020, and the Do Brazil Cup in 2022 and 2024, while Palmeiras, runner -up last year, adds ten titles since the Portuguese Abel Ferreira assumed as a technician in 2020, including the Libertadores in 2020 and 2021.
Flamengo maintained for this season almost the same cast last year, although he lost the scorer Gabriel Barbosa ‘Gabigol’ and veteran David Luiz and was reinforced with the right side Danilo, so he now has nine internationals in his ranks. These are Brazilians Alex Sandro, Gerson, Léo Ortiz, Wesley and Danilo himself; of the Uruguayans Giorgian de Arracaeta, Nico de la Cruz and Guillermo Varela, and the Ecuadorian Gonzalo Plata. The Carioca team also adds three titles in the last six months, since it is under the direction of Filipe Luís: the Do Brazil Cup, the Super Cup and the Carioca Championship.
Gonzalo Plata (Flamengo), drives the ball during a match against Fluminense
His main rival will be Palmeiras, who lost important players such as Zé Rafael, Rony and Dudu, but was the one that investigated the most in reinforcements for the current season (415 million reais or 72.4 million dollars), with the hiring of the Uruguayans Facundo Torres and Emiliano Martínez, and the Brazilian attackers Paulinho and Vitor Roque. The latter, whose federative rights belonged to Barcelona, returned to Brazil as the most expensive signing in the country’s history (25.5 million euros). The club with the highest number of titles in the League in Brazil (12) has been among the top three of the classification in eight of the last nine years.
The great unknown for this year is the Botafogo, Brazilian champion and the Libertadores last year, but which disassembled his team and had a bad start of the season with his premature elimination of the Carioca championship and losses in the finals of the South American Recopa and the Brazilian Super Cup. The champion lost this year not only to his coach, the Portuguese Artur Jorge, but also several of his most prominent players, such as the Argentine Thiago Almada and the Brazilian scorers Luiz Henrique, Tququinho Soares and Júnior Santos.
Botafogo won the Libertadores last year
After the hiring of also Portuguese Renato Paiva as a coach, the Botafogo promises to react thanks to the financial power of its owner, the American businessman John Textor. It was the second that most hired this year after Palmeiras, with the signings of midfielder Santiago Rodríguez, for which he paid 14.3 million euros to New York City; The Central Jair Cunha (12 million euros to Santos), Punta Artur (10 million euros to the Russian Zenit) and striker Rwan Cruz (10 million euros to Bulgarian Ludogs).
Read too
Among the clubs that may surprise the three favorites, analysts point to Cruzeiro, who armed himself with a couple of luxury attackers made up of Gabigol and Dudu; International, gaúcho champion this year, and Atlético Mineiro, mining champion.
