Corinthians won their first confrontation with Palmeiras for the decision of the Paulista Championship and will have the advantage of playing by draw in the duel back, on Thursday (27), in Itaquera. At the rival’s house, the alvinegro team scored 1-0 with Yuri Alberto’s goal, 13 minutes into the second half.
The owners of the house even played better, created more chances of goal and demanded good defenses from goalkeeper Hugo, but the visitors were effective in the best opportunity they created.
Corinthians and Palmeiras arrived at the decision after passing, respectively, by Santos and São Paulo in the last phase. It was the first time since 2019 with the state’s four major in the semifinals.
At that time, Corinthians beat Sao Paulo and got the cup, the third consecutive. In 2020, the São Jorge Parque club had a chance to win the unprecedented four -time championship, but despite reaching the final again, it was surpassed by Palmeiras.
This time, it is the green team that has a chance to earn the fourth consecutive trophy. Champion in 2022, 2023 and 2024, the team led by Abel Ferreira can become the first of the professional era of sport to celebrate a four -time championship.
The opportunity almost escaped in the first phase. While the rival had the best overall campaign in the state, the Portuguese coach’s cast was only able to qualify for the knockout in the last round of the group stage-the team was second in Group D, behind São Bernardo, an opponent eliminated later in the quarterfinals.
It was this difference that gave the advantage for the alvinegra team to make the second game of the decision at home, next Thursday (27), at the Neo Chemistry Arena, in Itaquera, at 21:30 (Brasilia).
In addition to disrupting the rival’s ambition, Corinthians deposits in Paulista the hope of softening the crisis caused by early elimination in the Copa Libertadores. Last week, the team said goodbye to the second preliminary stage, the last before the group stage of the competition.
Brazilian runner-up in 2024, Palmeiras won a direct place in the group stage of the tournament and will meet their opponents on Monday (17), when Conmebol (South American Football Confederation) will hold the draw of the keys.
Before worrying about the continental challenge, however, the alviverde team knows the value of Paulista. In addition to historical weight, the winner will pocket R $ 5 million awards, the largest among all state states in the country, and is higher than what is paid by most national leagues in South America.
Only the champions of Ecuador, Uruguay and, of course, Brazil receive higher figures, without considering the bonuses received by Corinthians, Palmeiras, Santos and Sao Paulo just for playing the tournament. Each club has already pocketed R $ 44 million. Much of the value comes from television quotas.
Thus, the 2025 champion will pocket a total of R $ 49 million, which makes the state the fifth competition of the continent with the highest awards, considering all levels-state, national and continental-behind Libertadores (R $ 221.9 million), the Brazilian Cup (R $ 58.8 million) and the Brazilian Championship (R $ 48.1 million).
