Country Brazil Number of teams 20 Relegation to Série A3 | Founded 1906 Promotion to Série A1 | |
Confederation CBF
Federação Paulista de Futebol | ||
Campeonato Paulista Série A2 is the second level of the São Paulo state professional football championship, one of the Brazilian state championships. This tournament is played by 20 teams, in which the four best teams are promoted to Série A1 and the four worst teams are relegated to Série A3.
Contents
Current format
The 20 teams are divided into two groups of ten teams. Teams then play a double round-robin tournament, after with the bottom two are relegated and the top four advance to the semi-finals, which are again two groups of four. Those play a double-round robin again, after which the top two in each group gain promotion. The winners of those semi-final groups play each other in a one-legged tie to crown a champion.
Amateur era
The Second Level was created in 1917 to accommodate the 1916 Campeonato Paulista clubs who had participated in the league organized by the Liga Paulista de Foot-Ball. It was last held in 1935, and winning it did not give automatic promotion to the First Level.
Professional era
Champions of the professional era were: