8 teams qualifying from less traditional pool produced the opposite effect from the initial idea of securing traditional clubs. This probably contributed to criticism of CBF organization. Top team qualified. Final phase: 4-team play-offs. The final play-offs featured for the first time two teams not belonging to the top 12 traditional pool. Second division: 24 teams. 1st phase: 24-team play-offs. Top 3 teams qualified. Final phase: "Triangular" 3-team double round-robin. Internal promotion whatsoever was definitely abandoned. 1986 Copa Brasil The 1986 tournament ranks as one of the most controversial ever, alongside 1987. For its detractors, it apparently revived old devils from late 70's by featuring back a single division with 80 teams, allegedly for political reason as CBF sought support from smaller teams against growing criticism of the top traditional clubs. These in turn saw this as weaker revenue possibilities, exemplified by 1985 final play-offs, combined with real increased competitiveness from these smaller provincial clubs, now also at national league level. Promotion and relegation were still taboo, and unthinkable for top tier teams. But CBF introduced for the first time this feature (which actually justified the single division formula once for all in order to level the playing field for next-year tournament with more conventional divisions of 24 teams). Apparently this was just to much egalitarianism for the traditional teams as they would make secession in 1987. Single division: 80 participants. 1st phase: 8 groups (4 groups of 11 teams and 4 groups of 9 team). In practice the first 4 groups constituted a top-tier division featuring the 44 1985 first division teams and the other the low-tier, similar to first and second divisions. This was largely stressed by qualifying top 7 teams (out of 11) from the first groups and 1 top team (out of 9) in the low tier groups. 2nd phase: Originally, 32 teams. Instead, a judicial dispute over drug-probed match that impacted directly on qualifying threatened to deadlock the competition. As a result, CBF decided to extend qualification to extra 4 teams with better record from the upper-tier groups. Thus the phase counted 36 teams in 4 groups of 9 teams. Top 4 qualified and bottom 2 would be relegated to next-year second division, alongside those already eliminated from 1st phase. Final phase: 16-team double play-offs. Ranking issues: as already noted in previous tournament, the evident association of the upper-tier groups with first division makes the