FPF chief on Paulistão’s Champions format, semi-automatic offside | OneFootball

The president of the São Paulo Football Federation, Reinaldo Carneiro Bastos, commented on the new format for the Campeonato Paulista, inspired by the Champions League, which was chosen as an alternative due to the tight schedule of Brazilian football in 2026 because of the World Cup.

“I saw enormous enthusiasm from all the clubs. With the formula, with the way it was presented, with the care we took, with their decision, it was a long technical council, it ended after eight-thirty at night, but all the topics were discussed in detail. And we left optimistic. The clubs are optimistic, the Federation is optimistic, and you can believe it, we are going to have the best championship ever,” said the official.

The first stage of the State Championship will continue to be a round-robin, but the teams will not be divided into groups. The championship will be played in a league format, with each team having eight matches to play.

Although the matchups for the first stage were decided by a draw, the São Paulo Football Federation made sure that the major clubs would face each other, preserving the most appealing encounters, such as derbies and games between teams currently in the top tier of national football.

The teams were divided into four pots for the draw. In pot A: Palmeiras, Corinthians, São Paulo, and Santos. In pot B: São Bernardo, Mirassol, Novorizontino, and Red Bull Bragantino. In pot C: Ponte Preta, Portuguesa, Guarani, and Velo Clube. In pot D: Capivariano, Primavera, Botafogo-SP, and Noroeste.

The clubs in pot A will face all the others in the same pot, as well as two teams from pot B, two from pot C, and one from pot D. The order, dates, and times of the matches are yet to be determined.

Another new feature is that the São Paulo Football Federation is working to expand the use of semi-automatic offside technology to more stages beyond just the final. The organization plans to hire for the Paulistão the same company that will provide services for the CBF starting from the next edition of the Brazilian Championship.

“We already used it this year. There’s a new company offering this same product, they will do it for the CBF, and we are already in talks with them. Who knows, maybe we can use it not only in the finals but also in the semifinals,” added Reinaldo Carneiro Bastos.

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