After opening a minimal lead in the first game of the Campeonato Paulista final, with a goal from Flaco López, Palmeiras visits Novorizontino with the challenge of ending the country team’s winning streak playing at home and, thus, putting an end to the biggest title drought of the Abel Ferreira era.
Paulista’s second and decisive game of 2026 takes place this Sunday (8), at 8:30 pm (Brasília time), at the Jorge Ismael de Biasi Stadium, Jorjão, in Novo Horizonte. Record (open TV), TNT (closed TV), HBO Max (streaming) and CazéTV (YouTube) broadcast the duel.
During the group stage, the team coached by Enderson Moreira won the four matches it played at home with the support of its fans, including the 4-0 defeat of Palmeiras in the fourth round on January 20th, the biggest defeat suffered by Abel Ferreira at the head of the team, with three goals from striker Robson — the top scorer in the current edition of the state championship, with seven balls in the net so far.
“Sometimes in life we need to take some falls to open our eyes. This was one of them”, said Abel.
Having the best campaign in the first phase of the championship, Novorizontino played at home again in the quarter-finals and semi-finals, leaving Santos (2-1) and Corinthians (1-0), respectively.
For the second game of the final, the Novorizontino board must put its hand in its pocket to count on the presence among the 11 starters of midfielder Rômulo, the team’s second top scorer with six goals and who is on loan from Palmeiras until the end of the year. To be able to count on the player, the country club will have to pay R$1 million to its rival in the decision.
“We are alive, we trust in our strength at home and we are going in search of this title”, said midfielder Luís Oyama after Wednesday’s duel at Arena Barueri. “We do a lot at home. It’s no surprise that we scored four goals against them in the first game. We have every chance of coming out victorious there”, added the Novorizontino midfielder.
In the final for the seventh year in a row, Palmeiras can secure their 27th state title with a draw, ending their longest title drought since Portuguese coach Abel Ferreira took charge of the team in November 2020.
The last cup lifted by alviverde was precisely that of Paulista, in 2024, beating Santos in the decision. This Saturday (7) the team completes 699 days without any achievements.
Last year was the first since Abel took the helm without Palmeiras having lifted any trophy, even with investments of almost R$700 million in names like Andreas Pereira, Vitor Roque and Paulinho. The team finished runners-up in the Brazilian Championship and Copa Libertadores, both won by Flamengo.
Between 2020 and 2024, the Portuguese coach won ten cups for the Palestine club — three from Paulista (2022, 2023 and 2024), two from the Brazilian Championship (2022 and 2023) and two from the Copa Libertadores (2020 and 2021), in addition to one from the Copa do Brasil (2020), one from the Supercopa do Brasil (2023) and one from the Recopa South American (2022).
If he reaches the fourth round of the state championship on Sunday, Abel will isolate himself as the most successful coach in the history of Palmeiras, surpassing Osvaldo Brandão, who led the team in five different spells between the 1940s and 1980s.
He would also become the foreign coach with the most titles at Paulista, surpassing the Italian Guido Giacominelli, three-time champion with Corinthians, between 1922 and 1924, and the Uruguayan Humberto Cabelli, with Palestra Itália, between 1932 and 1934.
