São Paulo is going through a very delicate and atypical moment at the beginning of 2026 Paulista Championship. With an unstable campaign under the command of Hernán Crespo and amid political turmoil at the club, Tricolor is dangerously flirting with the relegation zone.
Sporting News shows the situation.
MORE: UFC 324: who are the Brazilians fighting? Complete card and where to watch (01/24)
São Paulo’s next games at Paulistão
São Paulo will have a sequence of clashes that mix classics and games against teams fighting for different objectives:
| Data | Adversary | Local |
| 01/31 (Saturday) | Santos | MorumBIS |
| 07/02 (Saturday) | Primavera | MorumBIS |
| 15/02 (Domingo) | Ponte Preta | Moses Lucarelli |
Situation against Relegation
To date, the situation is maximum alert. In Paulistão’s regulations, the two teams with the worst overall campaigns (regardless of the group) are relegated to Series A2.
-
Current Position: São Paulo occupies the 14th place overall (of 16 times).
-
Performance: The team only adds 4 points in 5 games (after the 3-1 defeat to Palmeiras on the 24th).
-
Direct Threat: Tricolor is just one point ahead of Northwest (15th) and the Ponte Preta (16th), which make up Z-2.
Point of Attention: The team is the only one among the “big four” that is not in the knockout zone. In addition to the risk of decline, internal pressure is enormous due to President Julio Casares’ impeachment request and Muricy Ramalho’s recent departure from technical coordination.
To get rid of this situation, São Paulo urgently needs to take advantage of the next two home games (Santos and Primavera) to gain points and distance themselves from the “sticking”.
