The 1997 edition of theCampeonato Carioca kicked off on January 12, 1997 and ended on July 8, 1997. It is the official tournament organized byFFERJ (Federação de Futebol do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, or Rio de Janeiro State Football Federation. Only clubs based in theRio de Janeiro State are allowed to play. Twelve teams contested this edition.Botafogo won the title for the 17th time.Barreira was relegated.^[1][2]

The tournament was divided in three stages:^[2][1]

• Taça Guanabara: The twelve teams all played in single round-robin format against each other. The eight best teams qualified to the Taça Rio, the best two among them playing a final match against each other to define the champions. The bottom team was relegated.
• Taça Rio: The 8 remaining clubs all played in single round-robin format against each other. The six best teams qualified to the Third phase.
• Third phase: The six remaining clubs all played in single round-robin format against each other.
• Finals: Their format would depend on the quantity of teams that won the previous stages. In case that one team won two and other one, which was the case that wound up happening, the winner of the most phases would gain four bonus points, and the Finals would be disputed in a best-of-six points series.

Teams			Scores
Team 1	Points	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg	3rd leg	Agg.
Vasco da Gama	3:7	Botafogo	1:0	0:1	–	–

5 July 1997 (1997-07-05)

Vasco da Gama	1–0	Botafogo
Ramon 4'	Report

Maracanã,Rio de Janeiro

Attendance: 6,116

Referee: Francisco Dacildo Mourão

8 July 1997 (1997-07-08)

Botafogo	1–0	Vasco da Gama
Dimba 78'	Report

Maracanã,Rio de Janeiro

Attendance: 16,854

Referee: Sidrack Marinho dos Santos

Botafogo wins the championship on bonus points; as they had won the Guanabara and Rio, each for two bonus points.

• Campeonato Carioca seasons
• 1997 in Brazilian football leagues

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata