# 1971 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A

The 1971 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (officially the Primeiro Campeonato Nacional de Clubes, "First National Championship of Clubs") was the 16th edition of the Brazilian Championship. However, from 1976 until 2010 (when CBF unified the Brazilian titles prior to 1971, considering the 1959 Taça Brasil as the first edition of the championship) this tournament was considered by the highest entity of national football as the first edition of the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A. The competition was won by Atlético Mineiro, thus winning its second Brazilian title.
While the tournament represented the top tier of Brazilian football, its name was "Division Extra", with "First Division" instead used by the second-tier tournament (since known as Campeonato Brasileiro Série B).

## Background

During the 1960s, two tournaments were used to pick Brazil's representative at the Copa Libertadores: Taça Brasil (1959-1968), a single-elimination tournament between the state champions; and Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa (1967-1970), divided in two separate group phases with teams mostly from the states of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Both tournaments had a format that barely covered the entire country and had regional phases that diminished fan support, leading to dissatisfaction from both the team owners and the Brazilian Confederation of Sports (CBD), who organized the championship. In 1970, the Brazil national football team won the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, becoming the first three-time world champion. Seeing the valorization of Brazilian football, president Emílio Médici and the Brazilian media pushed CBD towards a true national tournament. With a format inspired by the European tournaments, the tournament would feature 20 teams. The format of the national tournament was still close to the 1970 Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa, with the state of Ceará being the only addition to the seven featured in the Robertão's final edition. Some of the shunned federation states, led by Goiás, even created their own parallel national tournament, the Torneio Integração da CBD.

## Competition format

The season was divided into three phases:
* The First Phase saw the twenty teams divided into two groups of ten. Despite being divided into groups, the phase was contested in a single round-robin format, with each team playing the others once. The top six teams in each group advanced to the Second Phase.
* The Second Phase saw the twelve qualified teams divided into three groups of four. The teams within each group played each other in a double round-robin format. The top team from each group advanced to the Final Phase.
* The Final Phase saw the three team play each other team once. The team with the most points at the end of the round was declared the champion.

## Teams

Twenty clubs participated in this championship (home city in parentheses):
* America-RJ (Rio de Janeiro)
* América-MG (Belo Horizonte)
* Atlético Mineiro (Belo Horizonte)
* Bahia (Salvador)
* Botafogo (Rio de Janeiro)
* Ceará (Fortaleza)
* Corinthians (São Paulo)
* Coritiba (Curitiba)
* Cruzeiro (Belo Horizonte)
* Flamengo (Rio de Janeiro)
* Fluminense (Rio de Janeiro)
* Grêmio (Porto Alegre)
* Internacional (Porto Alegre)
* Palmeiras (São Paulo)
* Portuguesa (São Paulo)
* Santa Cruz (Recife)
* Santos (Santos)
* São Paulo (São Paulo)
* Sport (Recife)
* Vasco da Gama (Rio de Janeiro)

## First phase
### Group A standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Corinthians | 19 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 29 | 16 | +13 | 26 | Advanced to the Second Phase |
| 2 | Cruzeiro | 19 | 7 | 9 | 3 | 26 | 12 | +14 | 23 | Advanced to the Second Phase |
| 3 | Internacional | 19 | 7 | 9 | 3 | 21 | 16 | +5 | 23 | Advanced to the Second Phase |
| 4 | Coritiba | 19 | 10 | 2 | 7 | 21 | 18 | +3 | 22 | Advanced to the Second Phase |
| 5 | Palmeiras | 19 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 20 | 14 | +6 | 22 | Advanced to the Second Phase |
| 6 | Vasco da Gama | 19 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 11 | 12 | −1 | 19 | Advanced to the Second Phase |
| 7 | Santa Cruz | 19 | 3 | 11 | 5 | 17 | 23 | −6 | 17 | |
| 8 | Fluminense | 19 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 13 | −1 | 16 | |
| 9 | Portuguesa | 19 | 6 | 3 | 10 | 16 | 24 | −8 | 15 | |
| 10 | Ceará | 19 | 2 | 5 | 12 | 5 | 25 | −20 | 9 | |

### Group B standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Grêmio | 19 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 18 | 11 | +7 | 23 | Advanced to the Second Phase |
| 2 | Atlético Mineiro | 19 | 7 | 9 | 3 | 27 | 16 | +11 | 23 | Advanced to the Second Phase |
| 3 | America-RJ | 19 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 23 | 17 | +6 | 21 | Advanced to the Second Phase |
| 4 | Santos | 19 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 17 | 11 | +6 | 21 | Advanced to the Second Phase |
| 5 | Botafogo | 19 | 5 | 10 | 4 | 15 | 16 | −1 | 20 | Advanced to the Second Phase |
| 6 | São Paulo | 19 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 16 | 19 | −3 | 19 | Advanced to the Second Phase |
| 7 | Bahia | 19 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 14 | 16 | −2 | 18 | |
| 8 | Flamengo | 19 | 4 | 10 | 5 | 13 | 17 | −4 | 18 | |
| 9 | América-MG | 19 | 2 | 9 | 8 | 11 | 19 | −8 | 13 | |
| 10 | Sport Recife | 19 | 4 | 4 | 11 | 10 | 27 | −17 | 12 | |

## Second phase
### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | São Paulo | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 2 | +4 | 9 | Advanced to the Final Phase |
| 2 | Corinthians | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 5 | |
| 3 | America-RJ | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 5 | |
| 4 | Cruzeiro | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 5 | |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Atlético Mineiro | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 6 | +4 | 7 | Advanced to the Final Phase |
| 2 | Internacional | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 7 | |
| 3 | Santos | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 5 | +2 | 6 | |
| 4 | Vasco da Gama | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 10 | −6 | 4 | |

### Group C

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Botafogo | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 6 | +5 | 8 | Advanced to the Final Phase |
| 2 | Grêmio | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 7 | −1 | 6 | |
| 3 | Palmeiras | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 6 | +1 | 6 | |
| 4 | Coritiba | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 7 | −5 | 4 | |

## Final phase

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Atlético Mineiro | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | +2 | 4 |
| 2 | São Paulo | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 2 |
| 3 | Botafogo | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | −4 | 0 |

## Final standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Atlético Mineiro | 27 | 12 | 10 | 5 | 39 | 22 | +17 | 34 | Finalists |
| 2 | São Paulo | 27 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 26 | 23 | +3 | 30 | Finalists |
| 3 | Botafogo | 27 | 8 | 12 | 7 | 27 | 27 | 0 | 28 | Finalists |
| 4 | Corinthians | 25 | 12 | 7 | 6 | 33 | 21 | +12 | 31 | Eliminated in the Second Phase |
| 5 | Internacional | 25 | 10 | 10 | 5 | 28 | 23 | +5 | 30 | Eliminated in the Second Phase |
| 6 | Grêmio | 25 | 10 | 9 | 6 | 24 | 18 | +6 | 29 | Eliminated in the Second Phase |
| 7 | Palmeiras | 25 | 9 | 10 | 6 | 27 | 20 | +7 | 28 | Eliminated in the Second Phase |
| 8 | Cruzeiro | 25 | 8 | 12 | 5 | 28 | 17 | +11 | 28 | Eliminated in the Second Phase |
| 9 | Santos | 25 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 24 | 16 | +8 | 27 | Eliminated in the Second Phase |
| 10 | Coritiba | 25 | 11 | 4 | 10 | 23 | 25 | −2 | 26 | Eliminated in the Second Phase |
| 11 | America-RJ | 25 | 8 | 10 | 7 | 27 | 21 | +6 | 26 | Eliminated in the Second Phase |
| 12 | Vasco da Gama | 25 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 15 | 22 | −7 | 23 | Eliminated in the Second Phase |
| 13 | Bahia | 19 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 14 | 16 | −2 | 18 | Eliminated in the First Phase |
| 14 | Flamengo | 19 | 4 | 10 | 5 | 13 | 17 | −4 | 18 | Eliminated in the First Phase |
| 15 | Santa Cruz | 19 | 3 | 11 | 5 | 17 | 23 | −6 | 17 | Eliminated in the First Phase |
| 16 | Fluminense | 19 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 13 | −1 | 16 | Eliminated in the First Phase |
| 17 | Portuguesa | 19 | 6 | 3 | 10 | 16 | 24 | −8 | 15 | Eliminated in the First Phase |
| 18 | América-MG | 19 | 2 | 9 | 8 | 11 | 19 | −8 | 13 | Eliminated in the First Phase |
| 19 | Sport Recife | 19 | 4 | 4 | 11 | 10 | 27 | −17 | 12 | Eliminated in the First Phase |
| 20 | Ceará | 19 | 2 | 5 | 12 | 5 | 25 | −20 | 9 | Eliminated in the First Phase |