 Since 2009, the best placed clubs in the state leagues not already qualified for Série A, B, or C qualify for the Série D.

State championships may include obscure formats or experiment with proposed innovations in rules.As the Série A, Série B and Série C clubs usually have to be seeded to avoid fixture congestion, some rules adopted may be quite unfair.In the 2008 Campeonato Carioca, the big four (Botafogo, Flamengo, Fluminense and Vasco da Gama) always played home against the other participating clubs.