1997 Campeonato Paulista

The 1997 Campeonato Paulista de Futebol Profissional da Primeira Divisão - Série A1 was the 96th season of São Paulo's top professional football league. Corinthians won the championship for the 22nd time. América and Botafogo were relegated.

Campeonato Paulista - Série A1

Season	1997
Champions	Corinthians
Relegated	América Botafogo
Matches played	190
Goals scored	611 (3.22 per match)
Top goalscorer	Dodô (São Paulo) - 19 goals
Biggest home win	São Paulo 8-1 Juventus (April 26, 1997)
Biggest away win	América 0-6 Palmeiras (February 19, 1997)
Highest scoring	Corinthians 8-2 Guarani (March 22, 1997)
← 1996 1998 →

Championship

First phase

In the first phase, the sixteen teams of the championship were divided into two groups of eight, with each team playing once against the teams of its own group and twice against the other group's teams. The two best teams of each group qualified into the Final Group and the two teams with the fewest points out of the sixteen were relegated.

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Palmeiras	23	14	6	3	58	27	+31	48	Qualified to Final group
2	Santos	23	13	7	3	45	23	+22	46
3	Portuguesa	23	12	7	4	46	33	+13	43
4	Guarani	23	7	8	8	37	45	−8	29
5	Juventus	23	5	6	12	38	53	−15	21
6	São José	23	4	9	10	29	40	−11	21
7	Botafogo	23	4	8	11	22	33	−11	20	Relegated
8	América	23	4	5	14	28	62	−34	17

Updated to match(es) played on 18 May 1997. Source: RSSSF.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) wins; 3) goal difference; 4) number of goals scored.

Group 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Corinthians	23	13	6	4	51	28	+23	45	Qualified to Final group
2	São Paulo	23	10	10	3	50	26	+24	40
3	União São João	23	9	6	8	35	32	+3	33
4	Inter de Limeira	23	7	8	8	35	37	−2	29
5	Rio Branco	23	7	7	9	30	33	−3	28
6	Araçatuba	23	7	5	11	28	33	−5	26
7	Portuguesa Santista	23	7	5	11	30	45	−15	26
8	Mogi Mirim	23	6	7	10	28	41	−13	25

Updated to match(es) played on 18 May 1997. Source: RSSSF.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) wins; 3) goal difference; 4) number of goals scored.

Final Playoffs

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Corinthians	3	2	1	0	7	4	+3	7	Champions
2	São Paulo	3	2	1	0	6	2	+4	7
3	Santos	3	1	0	2	7	5	+2	3
4	Palmeiras	3	0	0	3	1	10	−9	0

Updated to match(es) played on 5 June 1997. Source: RSSSF.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) Best season record