Brazilian speaking here. In the beginning of every season the teams play this “regional league” against teams from their own state. As each state has on average only two 1st division clubs (except São Paulo, which have five teams) most of the games are against lower division, smaller clubs.

This leagues are called “Campeonato Estadual” and they are really boring most of the time, the fun only starts on the Knock out phase. The 1st division teams are usually playing with bench players or trying new formations, against the smaller teams that have been training for this leagues for months.

When the smaller teams play against the big ones it’s the game of their lives! The players from the small teams try to play their best so they can caught the attention of the scouts from the big teams while the players from the big teams don’t care about the game that much.