The City of São Paulo approved on Monday night (20) an Authorization Permit for a Temporary Event so that the final of the São Paulo Junior Football Cup, Copinha, takes place at the Pacaembu stadium, on Saturday (25), the anniversary of the city.
To grant authorization, the city council considered that the Copinha final, which could be a classic between São Paulo and Corinthians, is a “family-related event”, that there is no “history of competition” between the fans and that the public will be formed by adults aged 36 to 65 who will watch the match seated only.
If it were recognized that the game involves organized fans, that the audience is mainly made up of young adults and that part of the fans are standing, the match would be classified as high risk and would require stricter criteria for granting the document.
Pacaembu, however, continues without an Operating Permit, which the regulations of the São Paulo Football Federation (FPF) say is a mandatory document to obtain 3 of the 4 mandatory reports for matches with more than 10 thousand fans.
The permit can only be granted by the city hall to Allegra Pacaembu after the acceptance of the mandatory works that the concessionaire carries out in the complex. So far, Allegra has not applied for such a permit.
Allegra’s strategy has always been to present the temporary event permit to obtain reports, including safety reports. Last week, representatives from the concessionaire met with the Secretary of Urban Planning and Licensing (SMUL), Beth França, to ask for speed. The following day, Mayor Ricardo Nunes (MDB) publicly committed to issuing the temporary permit.
The 2020 Ministry Ordinance that details the documents required to grant a temporary event permit classifies them based on the level of risk: low, medium, high or special. The greater the risk, the greater the demands.
The classification is based on scores for ten items, most of them ranging from 1 to 4. If the event has a seated audience only, it receives one point. Sitting and standing, two. Standing only, three.
For the Copinha final, the secretariat considered that the event will only have a seated audience, not standing and sitting, as is usually the case in a football game. He also mentioned that the event is aimed at “fan clubs and/or the general public” and not at “publics with a history of competition between groups”.
The Copinha final was classified as a “family-related event […] or local sports” and not as a “major sporting event” and, its audience, as having “homogeneous distribution between age groups” and not with a predominantly young audience.
With these choices, the event scored 29 points, below the 36 that would classify it as high risk.
The permit is for an audience of exactly 20 thousand people, 8,432 in the north stands (former green/yellow sector), 4,982 in the west (old tribune) and 5,924 in the east (old numbered), in addition to 662 people in boxes.
The teams in the Copinha final will be decided in the semi-finals. On the one hand, São Paulo faces Criciúma. On the other, Corinthians takes on Grêmio. In the event of a classic, São Paulo will be the home team, with a single crowd, as they have a better campaign than their black and white rival.
The Copinha regulations provide that, in the event that Pacaembu is not authorized to host the match, the final will take place at the São Paulo team’s home ground if the decision is against a foreign team. If it’s a classic, at the home team’s stadium — in this case, MorumBis, from São Paulo.
