Lucca, Nicolas, Cotia gems join Crespo: São Paulo name Copinha squad | OneFootball

São Paulo announced on the afternoon of this Tuesday (23) the list of registered players for the São Paulo Junior Football Cup, the traditional and popular Copinha 2026.

There are 30 players who will defend the title won at the beginning of this season. Among them, some names familiar to the tricolor fans, such as goalkeeper João Pedro, defender Nicolas, center-back Igão, as well as the talented forwards Lucca and Paulinho. All of them have already trained with Hernán Crespo at Barra Funda this year.

The skillful winger Lucca, in fact, a major highlight of this under-20 team, might not even play in the Copinha, as the plan is to utilize him in the main team from the start of the tricolor's pre-season. He might, however, play some matches in the tournament if necessary, depending on Crespo's decision.

Many other young players will be closely observed by Crespo's technical team to join the main squad in 2026. As reported by AVANTE MEU TRICOLOR, four to six names are expected to be integrated into the squad training at Barra Funda next year, also following a financial restructuring measure by the club with its finances in disarray.

Some Made in Cotia players also in the spotlight are right-back Igor Felisberto, center-back Osorio, midfielder Pedro Ferreira, and forward Gustavo Santana. The latter, along with Paulinho, will make their farewell to the under-20 in the Copinha, as they will turn 21 and surpass the age limit for the category.

Thus, São Paulo will use the youth tournament to decide what to do with the pair, whether to fully integrate them into the professional team or loan them to a smaller club to gain experience. Paulinho is ahead in the race for a spot in the tricolor squad for 2026.

In the 2026 Copinha, São Paulo is in Group 19, alongside Real Soccer-SP, Maruinense-SE, and Independente-AP. The venue will be in Sorocaba, with the matches held at Walter Ribeiro Stadium. It starts on January 2, but the São Paulo under-20 team debuts only on the 4th, a Sunday, at 11 am (Brasília time), against Maruinense from Sergipe, with broadcasts on open channels Record and Xsports. Following that, Allan Barcellos' team faces Independente on the 7th, closing the initial phase against Real Soccer on January 10 of next year.

The Tricolor is the current champion of the São Paulo Cup, after a historic title won at the beginning of 2025, and is also the second biggest winner in history, with five titles, alongside Fluminense and Internacional, only behind Corinthians (11 wins).

See below the list of the 30 registered players for the Copinha:

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