The competition was founded in 1991 by the Rio de Janeiro State Football Federation to decide one of the Rio de Janeiro's Copa do Brasil representatives of the following year (the other being the Campeonato Carioca champion).

If the state champion had also won Copa Rio, the representative would have been the tournament runner-up.

During that season only Flamengo and Fluminense participated from the Rio's Big 4, while none of them joined the competition in the following year and only Botafogo in 2000.

In 2008, the third-placed team (Madureira) was eligible to play in Copa Rio-Espírito Santo.

[1] In 2005 and in 2007, the competition was held again, but without the participation of the big clubs of the state, and again without qualification to Copa do Brasil.