São Paulo fans only allowed at Mirassol away game in Paulistão | OneFootball

The São Paulo fan who is present in Mirassol tonight, to watch the team's debut in the Campeonato Paulista against the home side, should make the most of the moment.

That's because, as much as it sounds like a bad joke, the match against Mirassol will be the only away game for Tricolor in the State Championship (at least in this first phase) where the presence of São Paulo fans will be allowed.

In the new format of the Paulistão, based on the Champions League, the clubs had their matches drawn for the league phase, which will have eight rounds and will qualify eight clubs for the knockout stage.

However, with the measure by the Federação Paulista de Futebol to guarantee the holding of the derbies, three of these pre-established matches would already be against São Paulo's biggest rivals. And that's where things start to go downhill.

Of the matches against their arch-enemies, São Paulo will play only one at home, against Santos, scheduled for February 1st at 8:30 PM (Brasília time). And besides this match against Mirassol and the two rivals Palmeiras and Corinthians, Tricolor will also play away against Ponte Preta.

In other words, with the current rule in the State of São Paulo of single-fanbase attendance in derbies and also in matches against the two teams from Campinas (SP), São Paulo fans will have to watch almost half of the club's away games on television, far from Morumbi.

A situation that many may consider irrelevant, but it exposes a sad reality: how treacherous the new Paulistão can be for the big clubs. Especially those in crisis, like São Paulo.

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