Campeonato Mineiro 2026: Cruzeiro aim to end Galo’s dominance | OneFootball

The Campeonato Mineiro will kick off this Saturday (10th), with the match between Uberlândia and Tombense. Cruzeiro is looking to end Atlético Mineiro’s streak of six consecutive titles.

Debuts

Cruzeiro takes the field this Saturday (10th), at 6:30 pm (Brasília time), at Mineirão, to face Pouso Alegre in the first round of the championship. Meanwhile, Galo makes its debut on Sunday (11th), at 6:00 pm (Brasília time), against Betim, at Arena MRV.

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Where to watch

Rede Globo will broadcast the 2026 Campeonato Mineiro exclusively on:

Free-to-air TV – TV Globo (one match per round)

Pay TV – Sportv (All matches)

YouTube – GE TV (one match per round)

Pay-per-view – Premiere (all Atlético, Cruzeiro, and América matches and the entire knockout stage)

Regulations

The tournament will be held from January 10th to March 7th. The big news for 2026 is the return of a single-match final.

Groups

In total, 12 clubs will be divided into three groups of four teams each and will play eight matches against teams from the other groups. At the end of the first phase, an overall ranking will be established and the semifinal matchups will be defined as follows:

Best group leader vs. best 2nd place, and second-best group leader vs. third-best group leader. Clubs ranked 5th to 8th overall will compete for the Inconfidência trophy.

The teams with the two worst records among the bottom three of each group will be relegated.

The groups drawn were:

Group A: Atlético-MG, Democrata-GV, URT, and Uberlândia.

Group B: América-MG, Pouso Alegre, Betim, and Tombense.

Group C: Cruzeiro, Athletic, Itabirito, and North.

Knockout Stage

The semifinals will be played over two legs, with the higher-seeded team playing the second leg at home. If the aggregate score is tied, the spot in the final will be decided by a penalty shootout, with no extra time.

The final, a single match, will take place at Mineirão and, as in the semifinals, there will be no extra time in case of a draw.

Expectations

Since 2017, only Galo and Cruzeiro have lifted this trophy, and in 2026 the trend is expected to continue.

Atlético Mineiro

Galo arrives as the current six-time champion of the tournament. However, despite the state title, the club’s 2025 season was frustrating for its fans. 

Atlético finished 11th in the Brasileirão and will play in the Copa Sudamericana once again, after reaching the final of this competition in 2025, losing the title to Lanús of Argentina on penalties.

In the Copa do Brasil, after overcoming Flamengo in the round of 16, the club suffered elimination to its biggest rival in the following round.

For the 2026 season, Galo kept Jorge Sampaoli as head coach and hopes for improvement compared to the previous year.

(Photo: JUAN MABROMATA / AFP)

Cruzeiro

In 2025, Raposa had its best season in the last seven years, finishing 3rd in the Brazilian Championship and reaching the semifinals of the Copa do Brasil. 

Although the club did not win any titles, it is experiencing its best moment since the major crisis that led it to the second division in 2019. Now, with Tite as coach and a very strong squad, Cruzeiro shows great superiority over Atlético and hopes to start the season by breaking the rival’s title streak in the state championship.

Photo: Gustavo Aleixo/Cruzeiro

First Round Matches

01/10 – Uberlândia vs Tombense

01/10 – Cruzeiro vs Pouso Alegre

01/10 – Itabirito vs Democrata-GV

01/10 – URT vs North

01/11 – Atlético-MG vs Betim

01/11 – América-MG vs Athletic

Last year

In the last edition of the Campeonato Mineiro, Atlético-MG was crowned champion for the sixth consecutive time, reaching 50 titles and joining ABC (RN), Paysandu (PA), and Bahia (BA) as the only teams with 50 or more state championship wins.

The 2025 final was played against América-MG and won by an impressive aggregate score of 5-0.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.