The Brazilian football pre-season includes some friendlies and tournaments to prepare the teams. One of them is the Vitória Cup, a competition that will be held in January and July this year. In this first month. Santa Cruz, Cruzeiro, Defensa y Justicia-ARG and Sporting Cristal-PER will be participating.
O Sporting News shows the games, tables and championship rules.
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Vitória Cup: teams in contention
In this first stage of the year, the tournament promotes clashes between teams from Brazil and South America, serving as preparation for the season’s marathon. See below the teams that will compete in the tournament in January.
- Holy Cross
- Cruise
- Defense and Justice
- Sporting Cristal
In July, the teams that must participate in the competition are:
- Botafogo
- Cali America
- Velez Sarsfield
- Olympiad
Vitória Cup 2026: game schedule
So far, the games confirmed for January are:
- Santa Cruz x Defense and Justice-ARG – 10/08, 8:30 pm (Arena Pernambuco, Recife)
- Cruzeiro x Sporting Cristal-PERU – 20/10, to be defined (Mineirão, Belo Horizonte)
Vitoria Cup: rules
The innovative essence of the Vitória Cup lies in the fact that the tournament abandons the traditional classification system and a single champion at the end of the season. Instead of a cumulative table, each match is treated as an absolute and independent decision.
This means that every game works like an individual championship final, where the victorious team wins an exclusive cup produced specifically for that duel, elevating the importance of every minute on the field.
According to the organization, the trophies handed out at the end of each match will pay tribute to outstanding personalities of Espírito Santo culture. The proposal is to unite football and regional identity.
