On January 29th, Flamengo will make its debut in the 2017 Campeonato Carioca. Flamengo is in Group A of the competition, alongside Botafogo, Madureira, Macaé, and Boavista, the first opponent of Flamengo. In addition to these teams, the second-place team in the preliminary round will also be in the group.

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The State Championship has undergone some changes this year. The competition's format has undergone changes, particularly regarding the creation of the preliminary stage, which consists of a six-team group, featuring the four teams that finished last season's Carioca Championship and the top two teams from Rio's second division. These teams will compete for two spots in the main stage.

Another change will be the classification method for the grand final. The champions of the Guanabara Cup and Rio Cup will no longer advance directly to the competition's decisive match. In this new format, semifinals will be played between these teams and the top-ranked teams in the overall standings.

The round-robin champions have the advantage of a draw for the semifinals, which will be a single match, unlike the title-deciding matches, which will be played in two-legged matches. If a team wins both rounds of the championship, the other three top-ranked teams in the overall standings will compete for the two spots in the grand final.

The red-black team's preparation for the season will begin on January 11th.