1970 Campeonato Paulista

The 1970 Campeonato Paulista da Divisão Especial de Futebol Profissional, organized by the Federação Paulista de Futebol, was the 69th season of São Paulo's top professional football league. São Paulo won the title for the 9th time. No teams were relegated. São Paulo's Toninho Guerreiro was the top scorer with 13 goals.

Campeonato Paulista – Série A1

Season	1970
Champions	São Paulo
Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa	São Paulo Palmeiras Santos Corinthians Ponte Preta
Matches played	202
Goals scored	475 (2.35 per match)
Top goalscorer	Toninho Guerreiro (São Paulo) – 13 goals
Biggest home win	Guarani 6-0 Comercial (May 17, 1970)
Biggest away win	Guarani 2-5 Santos (July 19, 1970) São Bento 0-3 São Paulo (August 30, 1970)
Highest scoring	Portuguesa Santista 6-1 São Bento (March 15, 1970) Guarani 2-5 Santos (July 19, 1970)
← 1969 1971 →

Championship

In that year, a new format was introduced: a preliminary phase was to be contested before the championship proper, in which the teams played against each other twice and the five best teams qualified into the main championship. That phase was to be disputed in the first semester of 1970, by all the teams except for the "big five": Corinthians, Palmeiras, Portuguesa, São Paulo and Santos, who received a direct bye into the championship proper.

In the championship proper, each team played against the others twice, and the team with the most points won the title.

Preliminary phase

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Guarani	20	11	5	4	36	23	+13	27	Qualified
2	Ferroviária	20	10	6	4	29	13	+16	26
3	Botafogo	20	8	7	5	24	23	+1	23
4	Ponte Preta	20	8	6	6	28	23	+5	22	Playoffs
5	Paulista	20	8	6	6	20	18	+2	22
6	São Bento	20	10	2	8	26	27	−1	22
7	Comercial	20	7	6	7	24	28	−4	20	Eliminated
8	Portuguesa Santista	20	6	6	8	28	27	+1	18
9	América	20	6	3	11	19	32	−13	15
10	Juventus	20	3	7	10	12	22	−10	13
11	XV de Piracicaba	20	3	6	11	21	31	−10	12

Updated to match(es) played on May 24, 1970. Source: Futebolnacional.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) wins; 4) number of goals scored.

At the end of the preliminary phase, Paulista, Ponte Preta and São Bento ended up tied in points and had to dispute a playoff to define the two teams that would qualify to the Main championship. Paulista played its matches first and lost both of them, making the third match between Ponte Preta and São Bento unnecessary.

28 May 1970 (1970-05-28)

Paulista	0–2	São Bento
	Report	Patito 33' Valdir 70', o.g.'

Jayme Cintra, Jundiaí, SP

Referee: Oscar Scolfaro

30 May 1970 (1970-05-30)

Ponte Preta	3–2	Paulista
Dicá 53', 57' Manfrini 62'	Report	Nenê 17' Mazzinho 19'

Parque Antarctica, São Paulo, SP

Attendance: 2,594

Referee: José Favilli Neto

Championship proper

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	São Paulo	18	12	3	3	29	15	+14	27	Champions
2	Palmeiras	18	7	8	3	19	13	+6	22	Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa
3	Ponte Preta	18	7	8	3	17	14	+3	22
4	Santos	18	8	5	5	34	21	+13	21
5	Corinthians	18	6	8	4	22	13	+9	20
6	Portuguesa	18	6	6	6	18	17	+1	18	1971 Main championship
7	Ferroviária	18	6	5	7	14	23	−9	17	1971 Preliminary tournament
8	Guarani	18	4	6	8	19	26	−7	14
9	São Bento	18	3	5	10	15	26	−11	11
10	Botafogo	18	2	4	12	14	33	−19	8

Updated to match(es) played on September 13, 1970. Source: RSSSF.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) wins; 4) number of goals scored.

Top Scores

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Toninho Guerreiro	São Paulo	13
2	Douglas	Santos	9
	César Maluco	Palmeiras
4	Pelé	Santos	7
	Manoel Maria
	Vágner	Guaraní
7	Leivinha	Portuguesa	6
	Cabinho	Ferroviaría
9	Edu	Santos	5
	Paulo Borges	Corinthians
	Vanderlei	Guaraní
	Manfrini	Ponte Preta