Meet Barra-SC, Corinthians' foes in the 2026 Copa do Brasil round five | OneFootball

On the afternoon of last Monday (23), the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) held, in Rio de Janeiro, the draw for the fifth round of the Copa do Brasil, which will take place in the weeks of April 22 and May 13. Corinthians, who have already won the competition four times (1995, 2002, 2009 and 2025) and are the current tournament champions, will face Barra, from Balneário Camboriú, Santa Catarina.

Central do Timão briefly breaks down the history of the opponent. Founded in 2013 and champions of Série D in 2025, beating Santa Cruz in the final, Barra will play in Série C in the 2026 season. Earlier this year, they also won the Campeonato Catarinense by beating Chapecoense with an aggregate score of 3-2 in the final. The team has been in the state top flight for four years and, during that period, had already reached two straight semifinals – 2022 and 2023.

Photo: Disclosure/Barra FC

Partnership with European teams

Recently founded, Barra-SC has had, since 2020, a partnership with Hoffenhein, from Germany, and Académico Viseu, from Portugal. One of the aspects that draws the most attention at the “new” club is the investment in infrastructure and modernization, which allows exchange experiences for its players.

The breakout player of the Catarinense in 2024, center-back Gabriel Jesús transferred to the German club that same year. In addition, Bruno Ramos, Marquinho, Bruno Branco, Kauã Vinícius, Bruno Henrique and Krystian Cubas, all developed by Barra, went on to play in Portuguese football.

Sebastian Bacher, general director of Pescador, worked at Hoffenheim. The president is Bene Pereira Sobrinho. Still regarding the exchange process, in mid-August 2025, Barra hosted the friendly between the Brazil and Costa Rica U-17 national teams, which ended in a 4-0 win for the Seleção.

Infrastructure

The team plays its home matches at Arena Barra, located between Itajaí and Balneário Camboriú, Santa Catarina, a stadium with a capacity of five thousand people, in addition to another 500 seats for visiting fans, whose construction was completed at the beginning of 2025. Work at the site began in 2022 and was carried out by the same construction company responsible for Beira-Rio, Internacional’s stadium. The stadium’s pitch is natural grass

In 2024, Barra inaugurated its modern Training Center, which complements the club’s sports complex. The structure hosts more than 80 youth players, from U-14 to U-20, and has 100 employees. It also serves as the institution’s administrative headquarters and includes accommodations. The training center has four full-size pitches, two natural and two synthetic.

The facility also has locker rooms for the youth and professional teams, a nutrition area, physiotherapy, cryotherapy for athlete recovery, a cafeteria, game room, kit service, its own laundry and a gym that can host three categories at the same time.

As a result of its strong structural development, in 2025, the Brazilian Football Confederation granted the club the youth development certification, which means the team from Santa Catarina meets all the requirements for training football players.

Série D title

Last season, Barra-SC were champions of the fourth national division. In the first phase, the team from Santa Catarina topped Group A8 with 26 points in 14 matches, totaling eight wins, two draws and four losses. Later, in the second phase, they knocked out Cascavel and, in the round of 16, got past Ceilândia. In the quarterfinals and semifinals, they beat Cianorte and Inter de Limeira, respectively, before defeating Santa Cruz, from Pernambuco, in the grand final.

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