1971 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A
Season	1971
Dates	7 August 1971 – 19 December 1971
Champions	Atlético Mineiro; 1st Campeonato Brasileiro title; 2nd Brazilian title
Copa Libertadores	Atlético Mineiro; São Paulo
Matches played	229
Goals scored	419 (1.83 per match)
Top goalscorer	Dario (15 goals)
Average attendance	20,360
	← 1970 1972 →

The 1971 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (officially the Primeiro Campeonato Nacional de Clubes, "First National Championship of Clubs") was the 16th edition of the Brazilian Championship. However, from 1976 until 2010 (when CBF unified the Brazilian titles prior to 1971, considering the 1959 Taça Brasil as the first edition of the championship) this tournament was considered by the highest entity of national football as the first edition of the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A.^[1] The competition was won by Atlético Mineiro, thus winning its second Brazilian title.

While the tournament represented the top tier of Brazilian football, its name was "Division Extra", with "First Division" instead used by the second-tier tournament (since known as Campeonato Brasileiro Série B).^[2]

Background

During the 1960s, two tournaments were used to pick Brazil's representative at the Copa Libertadores: Taça Brasil (1959-1968), a single-elimination tournament between the state champions; and Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa (1967-1970), divided in two separate group phases with teams mostly from the states of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Both tournaments had a format that barely covered the entire country and had regional phases that diminished fan support, leading to dissatisfaction from both the team owners and the Brazilian Confederation of Sports (CBD), who organized the championship. In 1970, the Brazil national football team won the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, becoming the first three-time world champion. Seeing the valorization of Brazilian football, president Emílio Médici and the Brazilian media pushed CBD towards a true national tournament. With a format inspired by the European tournaments, the tournament would feature 20 teams.^[3] The format of the national tournament was still close to the 1970 Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa, with the state of Ceará being the only addition to the seven featured in the Robertão's final edition. Some of the shunned federation states, led by Goiás, even created their own parallel national tournament, the Torneio Integração da CBD.^[4]

Competition format

The season was divided into three phases:

The First Phase saw the twenty teams divided into two groups of ten. Despite being divided into groups, the phase was contested in a single round-robin format, with each team playing the others once. The top six teams in each group advanced to the Second Phase.
The Second Phase saw the twelve qualified teams divided into three groups of four. The teams within each group played each other in a double round-robin format. The top team from each group advanced to the Final Phase.
The Final Phase saw the three team play each other team once. The team with the most points at the end of the round was declared the champion.

Teams

Twenty clubs participated in this championship (home city in parentheses):

First phase

Group A standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Corinthians	19	10	6	3	29	16	+13	26	Advanced to the Second Phase
2	Cruzeiro	19	7	9	3	26	12	+14	23
3	Internacional	19	7	9	3	21	16	+5	23
4	Coritiba	19	10	2	7	21	18	+3	22
5	Palmeiras	19	8	6	5	20	14	+6	22
6	Vasco da Gama	19	6	7	6	11	12	−1	19
7	Santa Cruz	19	3	11	5	17	23	−6	17
8	Fluminense	19	5	6	8	12	13	−1	16
9	Portuguesa	19	6	3	10	16	24	−8	15
10	Ceará	19	2	5	12	5	25	−20	9

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Group B standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Grêmio	19	8	7	4	18	11	+7	23	Advanced to the Second Phase
2	Atlético Mineiro	19	7	9	3	27	16	+11	23
3	America-RJ	19	7	7	5	23	17	+6	21
4	Santos	19	7	7	5	17	11	+6	21
5	Botafogo	19	5	10	4	15	16	−1	20
6	São Paulo	19	6	7	6	16	19	−3	19
7	Bahia	19	5	8	6	14	16	−2	18
8	Flamengo	19	4	10	5	13	17	−4	18
9	América-MG	19	2	9	8	11	19	−8	13
10	Sport Recife	19	4	4	11	10	27	−17	12

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Second phase

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	São Paulo	6	3	3	0	6	2	+4	9	Advanced to the Final Phase
2	Corinthians	6	2	1	3	4	5	−1	5
3	America-RJ	6	1	3	2	4	4	0	5
4	Cruzeiro	6	1	3	2	2	5	−3	5

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Atlético Mineiro	6	3	1	2	10	6	+4	7	Advanced to the Final Phase
2	Internacional	6	3	1	2	7	7	0	7
3	Santos	6	2	2	2	7	5	+2	6
4	Vasco da Gama	6	1	2	3	4	10	−6	4

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Botafogo	6	3	2	1	11	6	+5	8	Advanced to the Final Phase
2	Grêmio	6	2	2	2	6	7	−1	6
3	Palmeiras	6	1	4	1	7	6	+1	6
4	Coritiba	6	1	2	3	2	7	−5	4

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Final phase

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Atlético Mineiro	2	2	0	2	0	+2	4
2	São Paulo	2	1	1	4	2	+2	2
3	Botafogo	2	0	2	1	5	−4	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

December 12

Atlético Mineiro	1–0	São Paulo
Oldair 75'

Mineirão, Belo Horizonte

Attendance: 53.903

Referee: Armando Marques

December 15

São Paulo	4–1	Botafogo
Forlán 61' Terto 65' (86) Toninho 71'		Ney de Oliveira 53'

Morumbi, São Paulo

Attendance: 33.930

Referee: Armando Marques

December 19

Botafogo	0–1	Atlético Mineiro
		Dario 61'

Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro

Attendance: 46.458

Referee: Armando Marques

Final standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Atlético Mineiro	27	12	10	5	39	22	+17	34	Finalists
2	São Paulo	27	10	10	7	26	23	+3	30
3	Botafogo	27	8	12	7	27	27	0	28
4	Corinthians	25	12	7	6	33	21	+12	31	Eliminated in the Second Phase
5	Internacional	25	10	10	5	28	23	+5	30
6	Grêmio	25	10	9	6	24	18	+6	29
7	Palmeiras	25	9	10	6	27	20	+7	28
8	Cruzeiro	25	8	12	5	28	17	+11	28
9	Santos	25	9	9	7	24	16	+8	27
10	Coritiba	25	11	4	10	23	25	−2	26
11	America-RJ	25	8	10	7	27	21	+6	26
12	Vasco da Gama	25	7	9	9	15	22	−7	23
13	Bahia	19	5	8	6	14	16	−2	18	Eliminated in the First Phase
14	Flamengo	19	4	10	5	13	17	−4	18
15	Santa Cruz	19	3	11	5	17	23	−6	17
16	Fluminense	19	5	6	8	12	13	−1	16
17	Portuguesa	19	6	3	10	16	24	−8	15
18	América-MG	19	2	9	8	11	19	−8	13
19	Sport Recife	19	4	4	11	10	27	−17	12
20	Ceará	19	2	5	12	5	25	−20	9