Men's championship kicks off in Brazil this weekend

The Brazil Rugby League Men’s Championship kicks off this weekend and will run through until the Grand Final in December.

Six clubs will compete for the championship which was last played in 2019 due to the pandemic. They will be divided into two groups of three. The southern group features Urutau (São José dos Pinhais - Paraná), Maringá (Maringá - Paraná) and Umuarama (Umuarama - Paraná). The northern group includes São Paulo Raiders (São Paulo - São Paulo), Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro - Rio de Janeiro) and Taubaté (Taubaté - São Paulo).

Following the round-robin group fixtures, the finals will be played as 3^rd v 3^rd, 2^nd v 2^nd and the two group winners will compete for the championship.

Urutau are the defending champions but will expect stiff competition from runners-up Maringa and current Brazil 9s champions, São Paulo Raiders.
The calendar is:

SEPTEMBER
South Group - Maringá v Urutau (Maringá) - 4
South Group - Maringá v Umuarama (Umuarama) - 5
North Group - Taubaté v Rio Sharks (Taubaté) - 25

OCTOBER
South Group - Umuarama v Maringá (Umuarama) - 9
North Group - Rio Sharks v São Paulo Raiders (Rio de Janeiro) - 9
South Group - Urutau v Umuarama (São José dos Pinhais) - 23
North Group - Taubaté v São Paulo Raiders (Taubaté) - 30

NOVEMBER
South Group - Umuarama v Urutau (Umuarama) - 6
North Group - Rio Sharks v Taubaté (São Lourenço) - 6
South Group - Urutau v Maringá (São José dos Pinhais) - 20
North Group - São Paulo Raiders v Rio Sharks (Santa Barbara do Oeste) - 20
North Group - São Paulo Raiders v Taubaté (Santa Barbara do Oeste) - 27

DECEMBER
FINALS (1x1 / 2x2 / 3x3) - 11/12