São Paulo Are Champions In Brazil

São Paulo have been crowned ‘Copa do Brasil’ Champions for the first time in their history after a 1-1 draw with Flamengo on Sunday gave them a 2-1 aggregate victory in Brazil's answer to the F.A Cup Final. It is their first national trophy in 15 years.

It may come as a shock that São Paulo have taken until 2023 to lift the ‘Copa do Brasil’ given their global status as a massive football club. However they were losing finalists in 2000 and 2020, and the tournament was only created in 1989 so it is relatively new.

São Paulo, after all, have won 22 state titles and six national leagues in Brazil. The ‘Tricolor Paulista’ have also made their name on the international stage. They are three time Copa Libertadores Champions and have three intercontinental titles too.

In 1992 São Paulo went to Japan and beat Barcelona 2-1 in the Intercontinental Cup Final. A completely Brazilian squad took on Barcelona’s team of European superstars and proved worthy winners on the day. Hristo Stoichkov’s early goal for Barcelona was cancelled out by a brace from São Paulo number 10 Raí.

In 1993 São Paulo were Champions of South America again. They would return to Tokyo for another Intercontinental Cup Final. This time it was the mighty A.C Milan who would be defeated by the boys from Brazil. An 88th minute winner gave the Paulista side a famous 3-2 victory over the Italian giants and they became back to back South American and World Champions.

In 2005 they did it again. As three-time continental Champions they headed back to Japan, but this time for a new look ‘Club World Cup.’ Al-Ittihad were the Asian Champions at the time and the Brazilians would need to defeat them in the semi-finals to think about becoming Champions of the world.

São Paulo won the semi 3-2 and set up an epic final with European Champions Liverpool. In unprecedented fashion they would win their third intercontinental final out of three with a 1-0 victory over the Reds in Yokohama.

On just four out of 19 occasions have South American teams won the Club World Cup instead of a European side and São Paulo claimed one of those scalps. In the history of the Intercontinental Cup Final that took place before that only Santos had as good a record as São Paulo from Brazil, also with two victories.

São Paulo’s huge fan base, successful domestic history and periods of world domination means that they are one of the biggest football institutions in South America. It is therefore a huge shock that as of two days ago they still hadn’t got their hands on the ‘Copa do Brasil,’ but that has finally changed.

The first leg of the tie had been played the week before and São Paulo led through a solitary Jonathan Calleri strike. The Argentine forward scored on the stroke of half time to give São Paulo an advantage going into the second leg against favoured opponents Flamengo.

In the recent transfer market São Paulo made some lucrative new signings in the form of Colombian sensation James Rodriguez and local boy Lucas Moura. James didn’t feature in either leg of the final but Moura has settled into life at the club very well indeed, his acrobatic effort on Sunday was a nearly a spectacular goal for São Paulo.

It would be Rodrigo Nestor however that provided the vital strike on the day with a thunderbolt from the blue. A delicious volley just before the break that effectively cancelled out Flamengo’s goal a few minutes earlier.

Despite a Gabriel Neves red card in the 99th minute of play São Paulo would hold onto their advantage and go on to lift their first national trophy since they won the league title back in 2008.

A dry spell in the context of their great history, São Paulo will be hoping that fresh faces and the scent of cup success will have them on an upward trajectory once more. To win the cup they had to beat favourites Flamengo, as well as their fierce city rivals in the quarters and semis respectively; Palmeiras and Corinthians.

This is a special return to silverware for a São Paulo side that sit just four points above the relegation zone in the Brazilian Serie A. They can now focus on turning their league form around and planning ahead to next season.

The Paulistas will take home $15 million in prize money for their cup success. That’s enough to keep Lucas Moura on the books for a while, but whether or not it can translate into more titles is another story as Brazil is undoubtedly home to the most competitive domestic competition in South America.