The change to the Campeonato Carioca regulations announced by the Rio de Janeiro State Football Federation (FERJ) on Wednesday morning has had a positive impact on Flamengo's board of directors and coaching staff. The new format for the competition—which in 2026 will feature 10 dates and a single-match final—was defined at a meeting at the Federation's headquarters, attended by Flamengo president Luiz Eduardo Baptista, known as Bap.

"The calendar will be reduced from 16 to 10 dates, making the championship much more interesting. This has been an aspiration of the Rio teams for some time, and the president (of the Rio de Janeiro State Football Federation), Rubens Lopes, was sensitive to this. The CBF was also happy with this decision to reduce the dates, which is in line with the clubs' wishes. I think it will continue to be the most captivating championship in the country and will be more exciting without a shadow of a doubt," stated Bap.

Technical director José Boto congratulated the Federation for the measure that aims to improve the quality of the show: “It will make the Campeonato Carioca even more attractive and I hope that everyone follows this Ferj wave, and that this extends to the Campeonato Brasileiro, because it will greatly improve the quality of football in Brazil.”

In the director's view, the calendar is what separates Brazilian football from the major leagues, which makes the regulation change even more important at this time. "Long before coming to Brazil, I already considered Brazilian football an extremely attractive product, which, when sold well, was on par with the Premier League or other European leagues. But after arriving here, I realized that the calendar was something that stood in the way of consistent quality matches," José Boto noted.

Coach Filipe Luís thanked the Federation for the reduced dates and highlighted the importance that Rubro-Negro, the current champion, places on the tournament: "Besides being important games for the club, they are games that are very mentally draining, because most of them are classics and all teams go there to win, effort is never negotiable."

Furthermore, the coach also believes this change will likely improve the squad's fitness for the rest of the season. "When the Carioca Championship ends, there's a feeling that many more months have passed than actually happened. In fact, coupled with the summer season, this calendar update is crucial for us to be in better shape for the start of the championships," said Filipe.

The Campeonato Carioca will have two groups of six clubs each. In the first phase, teams from Group A face their opponents from Group B, and the top four teams from each group will advance to the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals, matches will be played between clubs from the same group. In the semifinals, the matchups will be drawn.

The groups are:

Group A:

Fluminense

Vasco

Volta Redonda

Sampaio Corrêa

Portuguesa

Club promoted from Serie A2

Group B:

Flamengo

Botafogo

Madureira

Maricá

Boavista

New Iguaçu