in competition, the samba schools of rio de janeiro are divided into three groups - grupo especial, which correlates to the upper division and consists of the best and normally richest samba teams, grupo de acesso, which maps to the lower division with smaller or less-known schools, and grupo rio, made up of the smallest samba schools.

and as in football, schools can advance or be relegated depending on their performance from year to year - grupo especial and all other schools that parade in the Sambódromo follows the rules set in place by the independent league of samba schools of rio de janeiro - liesa, created in 1953.

substantial financial investments, in the order of millions of dollars, go to help create the sophisticated floats and the incredible costumes that make this parade possible.