Cruzeiro is the most successful club, having won the competition six times, followed by Grmio with 5 titles, Palmeiras and Flamengo with 4, Corinthians with 3, and Atltico Mineiro with 2.

The club was founded on 2 January 1921, by sportsmen from the Italian colony of Belo Horizonte as Societ Sportiva Palestra Itlia. As a result of the Second World War, the Brazilian federal government banned the use of any symbols referring to the Axis powers in 1942.