My guess is that many Americans (and other travelers) don’t explore the admittedly complicated world of Brazilian soccer because they think it’s too dangerous or, more likely, have no idea how. Here, then, is a guide on the whens, wheres and how-tos.

When to Go

The first thing you have to know about Brazilian soccer is that it is played nearly year-round. There’s no spring training or long, wait-till-next-year periods of inactivity. Between two consecutive league seasons and a handful of national and international tournaments, the biggest teams play virtually nonstop, except for about a month in late December and early January. The first few months of the year are dominated by state leagues: all 26 Brazilian states, as well as the Federal District in and around Brasília, have them. (Games are generally on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays.) By May or June, the more exciting four-tiered national league starts. By the time the season ends in December, there’s a national champion.

But the action doesn’t end there. Top finishers in the national tournament earn berths in the next year’s Libertadores Cup and South American Cup, two regional tournaments that run concurrently with parts of the state and national seasons. There’s also the Brazil Cup, a separate national competition with a knockout tournament format. And occasionally, the national team (that is, the one that goes to the World Cup) will play a “friendly” match against visiting foreign squads. (This year, from June 15 to 30, Brazil hosts the Confederations Cup, stopping league play.)

The other good news is that you don’t always need to buy tickets in advance. There are exceptions: if it’s a game between two big teams, known as a clássico (more on that below), you should be safe and buy tickets beforehand at the stadium, club headquarters or other outlets; ask your taxi driver or hotel staff members. Buying online is sometimes possible but tricky: sites usually require a Brazilian ID number and domestic address.

How to Stay Safe

Rio is full of coddled experiences — tours of the favelas, private helicopter rides — and soccer is no exception. In hotel lobbies in the tourist-clogged Copacabana and Ipanema neighborhoods, travelers can pay 150 reais or so (about $75 at 2 reais to the dollar), take a bus or van to the stadium, and be herded by an English-speaking guide into the pricey reserved seats. It is the most expensive and probably the most boring way to see a match. It is also unnecessary.

Travel in Brazil is never entirely without risk, of course, but games are much safer than they used to be. Armed with some advance knowledge, common-sense precautions and a sense of adventure, it’s far more exciting to sit in the general-admission grandstand. In summary: arrive very early, don’t bring valuables, and sit on the edges of the grandstand, not in the middle of the mayhem.

Things have changed a lot since the 1980s, when fights between opposing fan groups were common, said Bernardo Buarque de Hollanda, a professor at the Fundação Getúlio Vargas who studies the social history of sport and specializes in the highly organized fan groups, or torcidas organizadas, that dominate the grandstands. “Instead of spontaneous violence, it was premeditated,” he said. By the 1990s stadiums began to separate fan bases for all games, although that sometimes just resulted in moving fights outside the stadium. Since then, a 2003 federal law made leagues and clubs legally responsible for fan safety, and was strengthened in 2010 to make the torcidas and their leaders criminally responsible for member actions within five kilometers of the stadium. State laws now prohibit alcohol sales (though those will be temporarily lifted for the World Cup).