The round of 16 of the 2023 Copa Sao Paulo de Futebol Junior came to an end on Tuesday night, and now only eight teams are still alive in the fight for the title of the main youth soccer competition in the country. And there is a select group among the teams classified for the quarterfinals: of the clubs that remain in the running in this year’s edition — America-MG , Fortaleza , Floresta , Goias , Ituano , Santos , Sport and Palmeiras —, only Coelho, Peixe and Porco already had the pleasure of celebrating the title.
The Copa Sao Paulo de Futebol Junior is one of the oldest tournaments on the national football calendar. The competition has been held since 1969, and has not been played in just two years: 1987 and 2021. Corinthians is the biggest winner of the tournament. With 10 titles under their belt, Timao was the winner of the inaugural championship and lifted its last cup in 2017. The current champion is Palmeiras , who won its first Cup title in the last edition, in 2022.
From now on, among all the teams that were champions, only America-MG , Palmeiras and Santos are still alive in search of another title. Coelho had the feat of being champion in 1996, Peixe, in 1984, 2013 and 2014, and Porco, in the last season of the Copa Sao Paulo de Futebol Junior.
One of the great looks for the quarterfinals of the competition is for the Cearenses of Floresta and Fortaleza , and for the Pernambucans of Sport . After all, if the title is lifted by any of these three associations, the Northeast will have the pleasure of shouting “It’s a champion!” for the first time in the history of Copinha.
