Pre-Libertadores draw before São Paulo know if they'll take part | OneFootball

Conmebol announced this Wednesday (10) the date and time for the draw of the preliminary stages of the Copa Libertadores of America, the famous pre-Libertadores.

São Paulo is still awaiting its participation in the competition, as it finished 8th in the Brasileirão, missing out on the Libertadores qualification zone. However, if Cruzeiro or Fluminense wins the Copa do Brasil, a new spot opens up, benefiting the Tricolor.

The draw for the 2026 pre-Libertadores will be on December 18 (Thursday), at 12 pm (Brasília time), at the Conmebol headquarters in Paraguay. Bahia and Botafogo are currently the Brazilian clubs guaranteed in this preliminary phase.

There are three phases to determine who advances to the groups, but the Brazilians only compete in the last two.

The Tricolor will only know at the draw if its name will be in the competition if Cruzeiro and Fluminense qualify for the Copa do Brasil final (understand here), thus requiring the 8th place to qualify even before the national decision. Or also if both are eliminated, confirming São Paulo in the South American. The semifinals end this Sunday (14).

If only one of them advances to the final, São Paulo will have to wait until the second decision on December 21 to finally define its 2026 season.

The pre-Libertadores starts on the base dates of February 4 and ends on March 11. Only four teams qualify for the group stage, which will have its draw on March 18. The matches of the second phase of the preliminary stage, where São Paulo would enter, will be on February 18 and 25.

The duels of the 3rd phase will be on March 4 and 11. And that’s where São Paulo would face complications playing at home, as it rented its Morumbi stadium once again for three shows by the rock band AC/DC.

The Australian group will perform at the São Paulo venue, with tickets already sold out, on February 24 and 28 and March 4. In other words, completely conflicting with possible decisive matches for the Libertadores.

Consulted by AVANTE MEU TRICOLOR, the club insists that it would have veto power in case of date conflicts between the shows and the team's games, which might happen.

But what veto can be made, already at the end of the year, with three shows already sold out for its stadium by one of the biggest bands in the world? If the spot, even if undeserved, does come, São Paulo may face new embarrassment with its fans and could be without Morumbi at the beginning of next year as well.

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