No obligation: Tolói can't hit renewal trigger, São Paulo decide future | OneFootball

Center-back Rafael Tolói no longer has any chance of reaching the targets set in his contract to secure an automatic renewal with São Paulo through December 2027.

To trigger the clause agreed upon by both parties for a contract extension, the 35-year-old defender needed to appear in at least 50% of the team’s official matches during the 2026 season, which can no longer happen.

Tolói returned to Morumbi in August 2025, signing a one-and-a-half-year deal that included an automatic renewal if he met the productivity target. The contractual provision required only that he appear on the field — regardless of minutes played — in Tricolor’s matches between January 1 and December 31 of this year.

No longer possible

After the 2-0 win over Internacional in the Brazilian Championship, São Paulo reached 49 official matches played in 2026 — a total that includes games in the Paulista Championship (10), the Copa do Brasil (2), the Copa Sudamericana (10), and the Brazilian Série A (27).

So far, the center-back has played in only 12 of those matches (eight in the Brasileirão, two in the Sudamericana, one in the Paulista, and one in the Copa do Brasil), giving him a participation rate of 24.5%.

With 11 more fixtures scheduled before the end of the year — including the postponed match against Santos — São Paulo will finish the season with 60 official games. To reach the 50% required by the contractual clause, Tolói would need to total 30 appearances.

Therefore, even if the veteran is used in the team’s remaining 11 matches, he would max out at 23 appearances (38.3% of the total), making automatic renewal mathematically impossible.

End of the cycle?

Although he started and played the full 90 minutes in the win against Internacional, people close to the player and sources behind the scenes within São Paulo’s board believe the defender is nearing the end of his cycle at the club.

The end of the possibility of automatic renewal based on objective criteria does not, however, prevent negotiations from opening for a possible new contract after the end of the Brasileirão.

But the situation should only really be decided at the end of the season, since São Paulo is facing new problems in the position. In addition to losing Alan Franco and Ferraresi, who were transferred, Domingos Duarte had to undergo knee surgery and will only return in around seven to eight months. Sabino has also been dealing with pain and has missed some matches.

With a shortage of options in central defense, the Tricolor board will reassess Tolói’s situation for next season. The player’s low number of matches in this second spell is mainly due to the excessive number of injuries he has suffered since returning to the club.

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