Paulista of 73: one title, two champions | OneFootball

By Gabriel Pierin, from the Memory Center

Fifty-three years ago, Santos won its 13th Campeonato Paulista title — but that final would go down in history for a reason no one could have imagined. At Morumbi, in front of more than 116,000 fans, Santos and Portuguesa played out a dramatic scoreless final marked by a refereeing mistake that turned the competition into a unique case: for the first time, the São Paulo state title would be shared by two clubs.

That year’s championship featured 12 teams in two rounds. Santos won the first unbeaten, with eight victories and three draws. The campaign also included emphatic routs: 3–0 over Corinthians, 6–0 against Juventus, and 5–1 over Ponte Preta. They scored 23 goals and conceded only five. In the second round, Portuguesa finished first and secured, alongside Peixe, the right to play in the grand final.

And the stage could not have been bigger. On August 26, 1973, Santos and Portuguesa took the field at Morumbi before 116,156 paying spectators, a record attendance for a football match in the state of São Paulo.

Managed by Pepe, Santos lined up with Cejas; Zé Carlos, Carlos Alberto, Vicente and Turcão; Clodoaldo and Léo Oliveira; Jair da Costa, Brecha, Euzébio, Pelé and Edu. Portuguesa, coached by Otto Glória, played with Zecão; Cardoso, Pescuma, Calegari and Isidoro; Bedeco and Basílio; Xáxá, Enéas, Cabinho and Wilsinho.

Santos took the initiative from the start and dominated the match. Pelé hit the post three times, but the goal would not come. Not in regular time, not in extra time. The 0–0 draw sent the final to penalties.

For Santos, Zé Carlos, Carlos Alberto, Edu, Pelé and Léo Oliveira were chosen to take the kicks. For Portuguesa, Isidoro, Calegari, Wilsinho, Basílio and Tatá.

The shootout began evenly. In the first round, the goalkeepers saved the kicks. Then Carlos Alberto scored for Santos, while Calegari was denied by Cejas. Edu doubled Santos’s lead, and Wilsinho hit the crossbar.

That was when the episode that would change the history of that final took place.

With Santos leading 2–0 in the shootout and still two kicks remaining for each team, referee Armando Marques ended the contest and declared Peixe the champion. The problem was mathematical: Portuguesa still had a chance to tie the shootout if they converted their two remaining kicks and Santos missed both of theirs.

The mistake was noticed afterward. The teams were called back onto the pitch to complete the shootout. Santos returned, but Portuguesa, following Otto Glória’s instructions, left Morumbi in a hurry, without even showering or changing clothes. The decision ended up in the hands of the São Paulo Football Federation.

With no room in the calendar for a new match, given the proximity of the Brazilian Championship, the directors of Santos and Portuguesa and FPF president José Ermírio de Morais reached an unusual solution: the 1973 Campeonato Paulista title would be shared.

Armando Marques admitted the mistake. “It was not an error in the application of the law, it was a mathematical error. I thought Santos had a mathematically insurmountable lead over Portuguesa. It was entirely my fault,” he said after the match.

So the championship ended with two champions: Santos and Portuguesa.

For Peixe, however, that triumph carried an even more special meaning. With 11 goals, Pelé once again finished as the top scorer of the Campeonato Paulista — for the 11th time in his career.

And that would be the last state title lifted by the King of Football in a Santos shirt.

A shared title. An unforgettable final. And one of the most curious stories in Brazilian football.

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