The São Paulo Football Federation (FPF) announced the format for the Paulistão 2026 on Tuesday, November 11. The event took place at the Mercado Livre Arena Pacaembu in Sao Paulo. In the first phase, all teams will play against the clubs in their respective pot and five other randomly selected participants. At the end, the top eight teams overall will advance to the knockout stage of the tournament, while the two lowest-ranked teams will be relegated to Serie A2.
The quarter and semifinal matches will be single-legged affairs. Only the championship final will be played over two legs. The fixture order for the initial phase and home field advantages have not been determined yet by the organization. The competition is set to begin on January 11, 2026, with the final scheduled for March 8. The change in format was due to the shift in the Brazilian calendar, which now sees the Brasileirão kick off on January 28. As a result, teams in the top national tier will juggle fixtures from both the Brazilian League and the state championships simultaneously.
The structure of the Paulistão took inspiration from the current Champions League group stage format, introduced in the previous European football season. According to the FPF, the regulations were finalized by the clubs shortly before the unveiling event. Check out the pots for the 2026 Campeonato Paulista:
Pote A: Corinthians, Palmeiras, Santos, São Paulo
Pote B: Mirassol, Novorizontino, Red Bull Bragantino, São Bernardo FC
Pote C: Guarani, Ponte Preta, Portuguesa, Velo Clube
Pote D: Botafogo-SP, Capivariano, Noroeste, Primavera-SP
The pots serve solely to determine the matchups in the Paulistão.
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