# Copa do Nordeste

Copa do Nordeste (English: Cup of the North-East), also known as Campeonato do Nordeste (English: Championship of the North-East) or Copa Nordeste (English: Northeastern Cup) is a Brazilian football competition among Northeastern region teams. It is sometimes informally referred to as Lampions League – in reference to the UEFA Champions League and bandit folk hero Lampião.

## History

The competition was first played in 1994. From 1997 to 1999, the Campeonato do Nordeste champions granted qualification to Copa Conmebol.
From 2000 to 2002, the Campeonato do Nordeste champions granted qualification to the Copa dos Campeões.
The competition returned in 2010, after being defunct since 2003. Copa do Nordeste returned again in 2013.
From 2014 to 2016, the winner got a spot in the Copa Sudamericana. The Copa do Nordeste champion now qualifies to the Copa do Brasil.

## Competition format

Since 2018 a qualifying tournament called Pré-Copa do Nordeste has been played. In this tournament, eight teams compete in a single-elimination tournament where the four winners advance to the Copa do Nordeste.
The Copa do Nordeste has in its first stage two groups. 12 teams gain direct entries into the group stage while the other four berths are decided by the Pré-Copa do Nordeste.
In the group stage, each group is played on a single round-robin basis against the eight clubs from the other group. The top four teams of each group advance to the quarter-finals.
The quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals are played a single-elimination tournament. Only the finals are played on a home-and-away two-legged basis, with the best tournament team hosting the second leg, while quarter-finals and semi-finals are played on a single-leg basis, with the higher-seeded team hosting the leg.

## List of champions

| Year | Champion | Final match | Runners-up | Third place | Fourth place |
| 1994 Details | Sport (1) PE | 0 – 0 (3–2 pen.) | CRB AL | Bahia BA | Cruzeiro de Arapiraca AL |
| 1995–1996 | Not held | Not held | Not held | Not held | Not held |
| 1997 Details | Vitória (1) BA | 3 – 0 1 – 2 Aggregate 4 – 2 | Bahia BA | Sport PE | Ceará CE |
| 1998 Details | América (1) RN | 1 – 2 3 – 1 Aggregate 4 – 3 | Vitória BA | Bahia BA | Santa Cruz PE |
| 1999 Details | Vitória (2) BA | 2 – 0 0 – 1 Aggregate 2 – 1 | Bahia BA | CSA AL | Sport PE |
| 2000 Details | Sport (2) PE | 2 – 2 2 – 2 Aggregate 4 – 4 | Vitória BA | Poções BA | Sergipe SE |
| 2001 Details | Bahia (1) BA | 3 – 1 | Sport PE | Náutico PE | Fortaleza CE |
| 2002 Details | Bahia (2) BA | 3 – 1 2 – 2 Aggregate 5 – 3 | Vitória BA | Náutico PE | Santa Cruz PE |
| 2003 Details | Vitória (3) BA | 1 – 1 0 – 0 Aggregate 1 – 1 | Fluminense de Feira BA | ABC RN | América RN |
| 2004–2009 | Not held | Not held | Not held | Not held | Not held |
| 2010 Details | Vitória (4) BA | 2 – 1 | ABC RN | CSA AL | Treze PB |
| 2011–2012 | Not held | Not held | Not held | Not held | Not held |
| 2013 Details | Campinense (1) PB | 2 – 1 2 – 0 Aggregate 4 – 1 | ASA AL | Ceará CE | Fortaleza CE |
| 2014 Details | Sport (3) PE | 2 – 0 1 – 1 Aggregate 3 – 1 | Ceará CE | América RN | Santa Cruz PE |
| 2015 Details | Ceará (1) CE | 1 – 0 2 – 1 Aggregate 3 – 1 | Bahia BA | Vitória BA | Sport PE |
| 2016 Details | Santa Cruz (1) PE | 2 – 1 1 – 1 Aggregate 3 – 2 | Campinense PB | Bahia BA | Sport PE |
| 2017 Details | Bahia (3) BA | 1 – 1 1 – 0 Aggregate 2 – 1 | Sport PE | Vitória BA | Santa Cruz PE |
| 2018 Details | Sampaio Corrêa (1) MA | 1 – 0 0 – 0 Aggregate 1 – 0 | Bahia BA | ABC RN | Ceará CE |
| 2019 Details | Fortaleza (1) CE | 1 – 0 1 – 0 Aggregate 2 – 0 | Botafogo PB | Náutico PE | Santa Cruz PE |
| 2020 Details | Ceará (2) CE | 3 – 1 1 – 0 Aggregate 4 – 1 | Bahia BA | Fortaleza CE | Confiança SE |
| 2021 Details | Bahia (4) BA | 0 – 1 2 – 1 (4–2 pen.) | Ceará CE | Fortaleza CE | Vitória BA |
| 2022 Details | Fortaleza (2) CE | 1 – 1 1 – 0 Aggregate 2 – 1 | Sport PE | Náutico PE | CRB AL |
| 2023 Details | Ceará (3) CE | 2 – 1 0 – 1 (4–2 pen.) | Sport PE | Fortaleza CE | ABC RN |
| 2024 Details | Fortaleza (3) CE | 2 – 0 0 – 2 (5–4 pen.) | CRB AL | Bahia BA | Sport PE |

## Performances
### By club

Performance in the Northeastern Cup by club :
| Club | Winners | Runners-up | Years winners | Years runners-up |
| Bahia | 4 | 5 | 2001, 2002, 2017, 2021 | 1997, 1999, 2015, 2018, 2020 |
| Vitória | 4 | 3 | 1997, 1999, 2003, 2010 | 1998, 2000, 2002 |
| Sport | 3 | 4 | 1994, 2000, 2014 | 2001, 2017, 2022, 2023 |
| Ceará | 3 | 2 | 2015, 2020, 2023 | 2014, 2021 |
| Fortaleza | 3 | 0 | 2019, 2022, 2024 | — |
| Campinense | 1 | 1 | 2013 | 2016 |
| América | 1 | 0 | 1998 | — |
| Sampaio Corrêa | 1 | 0 | 2018 | — |
| Santa Cruz | 1 | 0 | 2016 | — |
| CRB | 0 | 2 | — | 1994, 2024 |
| ABC | 0 | 1 | — | 2010 |
| ASA | 0 | 1 | — | 2013 |
| Botafogo-PB | 0 | 1 | — | 2019 |
| Fluminense de Feira | 0 | 1 | — | 2003 |

### By state

Performance by state :
| State | Winners | Runners-up |
| Bahia | 8 | 9 |
| Ceará | 6 | 2 |
| Pernambuco | 4 | 4 |
| Paraíba | 1 | 2 |
| Rio Grande do Norte | 1 | 1 |
| Maranhão | 1 | 0 |
| Alagoas | 0 | 3 |
| Piauí | 0 | 0 |
| Sergipe | 0 | 0 |

## Top scorers

| Year | Player (team) | Goals |
| 1994 | Fábio (Sport) | 5 |
| 1997 | Nildo (Ceará) | 6 |
| 1998 | Paulinho Kobayashi (América de Natal) | 9 |
| 1999 | Ueslei (Bahia) | 10 |
| 2000 | Leonardo (ABC) Pedro Costa (Sergipe) | 6 |
| 2001 | Kuki (Náutico) | 12 |
| 2002 | Sérgio Alves (Bahia) | 13 |
| 2003 | Nádson (Vitória) | 5 |
| 2010 | Cristiano Alagoano (Confiança) | 10 |
| 2013 | Marcelo Nicácio (Vitória) Rodrigo Silva (ABC) | 5 |
| 2014 | Magno Alves (Ceará) | 8 |
| 2015 | Max (América de Natal) | 6 |
| 2016 | Rodrigão (Campinense) | 9 |
| 2017 | Régis (Bahia) | 6 |
| 2018 | Arthur Cabral (Ceará) Yago Felipe (Vitória) | 5 |
| 2019 | Gilberto (Bahia) Júnior Santos (Fortaleza) | 8 |
| 2020 | Vina (Ceará) | 5 |
| 2021 | Gilberto (Bahia) | 8 |
| 2022 | Hugo Rodallega (Bahia) | 8 |
| 2023 | Juan Martín Lucero (Fortaleza) Luciano Juba (Sport) | 6 |
| 2024 | Moisés (Fortaleza) | 7 |

## Winning managers

| Year | Manager | Club |
| 1994 | Givanildo Oliveira | Sport |
| 1997 | Arturzinho | Vitória |
| 1998 | Arturzinho | América de Natal |
| 1999 | Ricardo Gomes | Vitória |
| 2000 | Celso Roth | Sport |
| 2001 | Evaristo de Macedo | Bahia |
| 2002 | Bobô | Bahia |
| 2003 | Joel Santana | Vitória |
| 2011 | Ricardo Silva | Vitória |
| 2013 | Oliveira Canindé | Campinense |
| 2014 | Eduardo Baptista | Sport |
| 2015 | Silas | Ceará |
| 2016 | Milton Mendes | Santa Cruz |
| 2017 | Guto Ferreira | Bahia |
| 2018 | Roberto Fonseca | Sampaio Corrêa |
| 2019 | Rogério Ceni | Fortaleza |
| 2020 | Guto Ferreira | Ceará |
| 2021 | Dado Cavalcanti | Bahia |
| 2022 | Juan Pablo Vojvoda | Fortaleza |
| 2023 | Eduardo Barroca | Ceará |
| 2024 | Juan Pablo Vojvoda | Fortaleza |