7 Fun Things About Brazilian Football You May Not Know

Brazil is one of the world's leading nations when it comes to the beautiful game, a phrase used by Pele, one of the country's icons, in the title of his autobiography.

But with a domestic league struggling to match the heights of its national team, fans aren't as enlightened to the thrills and spills of the country's club football.

In fact, it could be argued that most fans' and even some players' knowledge of Brazil just about stretches to cover Neymar and Santos and little else.

Noted Marseille wit Joey Barton once described the Brasileirao as the Amazon Jungle League in a disparaging remark about Neymar, as reported by Metro.

He's clearly in the wrong, so here are seven fun things about the Brasileirao you may not know about, which makes it one of the more exciting leagues out there.

Derbies

The Fla-Flu derby is arguably Brazil's most famous derby, contested by Rio de Janeiro giants Flamengo and Fluminense, and it's always a heated affair whenever the two clubs clash.

Stemming from the early days of football in 1911, the rivalry between these two clubs began when a group of dissatisfied players from Fluminense left the club and moved to Flamengo, which had no football team at the time.

Naturally, Fluminense didn't take too kindly to the desertion, and the Fla-Flu derby—a name coined by Brazilian journalist Mario Filho—was born.

The two clubs also contest the Campeonato Carioca, the Rio State Championship, where they face the likes of Botafogo and Vasco da Gama, which are big derby rivals in their own right.

Also worthy of mention are the Belo Horizonte derby between city rivals Atletico Mineiro and Cruzeiro, and the Grenal derby, a notoriously fiery derby contested by Porto Alegre sides Gremio and Internacional.

State Championships

Twenty-seven state championships. Or in common Brazilian parlance, far too many and far too long.

Imagine if all Premier League sides had to play a four- to five-month-long tournament against all of the sides in their local region, irrespective of their league status, during the summer?

That's the state championships in a nutshell. You'd never see Manchester United participate in a tournament featuring the likes of Bolton, Wigan, Rochdale, Oldham, Bury and Hyde every single offseason. 

So imagine a tournament for every region in the country. That's the enormity of Brazil's state championships, one for each of the nation's 27 regions, starting a mere month after the end of the Brasileirao season and ending just weeks before the new season starts.

It's no wonder, then, that experts and pundits are clamouring for the Brazilian season to be brought in line with Europe's. But with Brazil's football federation, the CBF, notorious for its lack of progressiveness, that's unlikely to happen anytime soon.

Players Losing the Plot

Players losing the plot in Brazil is nothing new, viewers in Brazil wouldn't have blinked an eye at Luis Suarez's biting incident if it had happened in a Brasileirao fixture.

Shocking incidents and scandals are almost a regular occurrence in the domestic leagues, and there are plenty of examples to choose from.

For instance, a personal favourite, as seen in the video above, is Independente defender Johnny Dos Santos' inexplicable kung-fu attack on poor referee Mauricio Antonio Fioretti for having the temerity to signal just four minutes of injury time.

Another extraordinary example is Gremio's Elano showing the rest of the world how Brazilians deal with dodgy decisions by kicking a linesman where it really hurts after a controversial penalty was given against his team.

It may be for the wrong reasons, but there's never a dull moment in Brazilian football.

Goalscoring Goalkeepers

There's only one, but he's rather good.

Rogerio Ceni.

The Sao Paulo goalkeeper has followed in the footsteps of goalscoring guardians such as the legendary Jose Luis Chilavert of Paraguay and Columbia's Rene Higuita.

The set-piece expert has made good use of penalties and free-kicks to amass a quite frankly astonishing 111 goals for Sao Paulo, including an incredible 21 goals from 76 appearances in 2005.

Ceni also broke double digits in three successive seasons from 2004 to 2006 to garner legendary status in Brazil. 

With over a thousand appearances for club and country, Ceni can boast an extraordinary ratio of one goal every 10 games. That's more than Manchester United's Danny Welbeck could muster this season.

Golden Oldies

Brazil is known as a hotbed of brilliant young talent, but there are also plenty of veterans plying their trade in the Brasileirao.

While we can eagerly anticipate the emergence of the next Neymar, we can also appreciate the "golden oldies" who have graced the Brasileirao with their presence.

Look no further than Botafogo's very own Dutchman, Clarence Seedorf, who has captured the hearts and minds of the Fogao faithful with his renaissance. 

Seedorf has been a delight to watch on the pitches of Brazil, as the 37-year-old delivers a masterclass every week in how to play football.

But Seedorf's time in Brazil hasn't all been smooth sailing. He was bizarrely sent off when a referee took exception to the former AC Milan midfielder leaving the pitch in an incorrect manner and brandishing a second yellow card when Seedorf complained about the decision.

Other notable stars enjoying a last hurrah in Brazil are Fluminense's Deco and Fred, Sao Paulo's Luis Fabiano and Atletico Mineiro's Ronaldinho.

5th-Best League in the World

Brazil surprised fans and pundits alike when World Soccer named it the fifth-best league in the world. 

The football magazine placed the league ahead of the likes of the Netherlands' Eredivisie and France's Ligue 1 in a survey carried out in May 2013.

Brazilian clubs were noted to be among the richest, the most competitive, having the most continental prizes and having the best stadiums.

Alas, they performed pretty poorly in attendances, goals scored per match and the number of star players. That last one will have taken a heavy blow with the departure of Neymar for Barcelona.

But Brazil can be proud of their achievements considering it's the highest-ranked nation not in Europe and even outstrips the likes of Portugal, France, Holland and rivals Argentina.

So yes, take that Joey Barton. Not exactly the "Amazon Jungle League," is it?

No More Neymar Tedium

And the very best thing? Neymar's gone.

So no more endless hand-wringing over where he's going. No more long-running dramas speculating where his destination will be.

So rejoice.

We can finally focus on the many number of emerging talents Brazil has, such as Flamengo's Adryan, Botafogo's Doria and Sao Paulo's Ademilson.

And once Brazil finds its new saviour, we can start the whole sordid saga all over again.