2026 Copa do Nordeste

2026 Copa do Nordeste
Tournament details
CountryBrazil
Dates24 March – 6 June
Teams20
Final positions
ChampionsVitória (5th title)
Runners-upFortaleza
2027 Copa do BrasilVitória
Tournament statistics
Matches played60
Goals scored169 (2.82 per match)

The 2026 Copa do Nordeste (officially the Copa do Nordeste Casas Bahia 2026 for sponsorship reasons)[1] was the 23rd edition of the main football tournament featuring teams from the Brazilian Northeast Region. The competition featured 20 clubs. Bahia and Ceará had three berths each, while Alagoas, Maranhão, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Piauí, Rio Grande do Norte, and Sergipe had two each. The Copa do Nordeste began on 24 March and ended on 6 June 2026.[2]

Due to the restructuring of Brazilian tournaments by the CBF, teams participating in the 2026 Copa Libertadores and 2026 Copa Sudamericana would not be allowed to participate in regional tournaments. Therefore, Bahia, the defending champions who qualified for the second stage of the 2026 Copa Libertadores, were excluded from the 2026 Copa do Nordeste, despite winning the 2025 Campeonato Baiano.[3]

Vitória defeated Fortaleza 4–2 on aggregate in the finals to win their fifth title. As champions, they qualified for the 2027 Copa do Brasil.

Format

In this season, 20 teams (9 state league champions and runners-up and best placed teams in the 2026 CBF ranking from Ceará and Bahia) gained entries into the group stage.

For the group stage, the 20 teams were drawn into four groups. Each team in Group A played each team in Group B once, and each team in Group C played each team in Group D once. The top two teams from each group advanced to the final stage. The quarterfinals were played on a single-leg basis, while the semifinals and finals were played on a two-legged, home-and-away basis.[4]

Teams

The qualified teams were[5]

Association Team Qualification method
Alagoas Alagoas
2 berths		 CRB 2025 Campeonato Alagoano champions
ASA 2025 Campeonato Alagoano runners-up
Bahia Bahia
3 berths		 Vitória 2025 Campeonato Baiano runners-up
Jacuipense 2025 Campeonato Baiano third place
Juazeirense best placed team in the 2026 CBF ranking not already qualified
Ceará Ceará
3 berths		 Ceará 2025 Campeonato Cearense champions
Fortaleza 2025 Campeonato Cearense runners-up
Ferroviário best placed team in the 2026 CBF ranking not already qualified
Maranhão Maranhão
2 berths		 Maranhão 2025 Campeonato Maranhense champions
Imperatriz 2025 Campeonato Maranhense runners-up
Paraíba Paraíba
2 berths		 Sousa 2025 Campeonato Paraibano champions
Botafogo-PB 2025 Campeonato Paraibano runners-up
Pernambuco Pernambuco
2 berths		 Sport 2025 Campeonato Pernambucano champions
Retrô 2025 Campeonato Pernambucano runners-up
Piauí Piauí
2 berths		 Piauí 2025 Campeonato Piauiense champions
Fluminense-PI 2025 Campeonato Piauiense runners-up
Rio Grande do Norte Rio Grande do Norte
2 berths		 América de Natal 2025 Campeonato Potiguar champions
ABC 2025 Campeonato Potiguar runners-up
Sergipe Sergipe
2 berths		 Confiança 2025 Campeonato Sergipano champions
Itabaiana 2025 Campeonato Sergipano runners-up

Bahia (2025 Campeonato Baiano champions) did not participate in the 2026 Copa do Nordeste due to their qualification for the second stage of the 2026 Copa Libertadores.

Draw

The group stage draw was held on 3 March 2026, 14:00, at the CBF headquarters in Rio de Janeiro.[6] Teams were seeded into five pots based on the 2026 CBF state ranking (shown in parentheses).

2026 CBF state ranking
State
  • Ceará Ceará (6)
  • Bahia Bahia (9)
  • Pernambuco Pernambuco (10)
  • Alagoas Alagoas (11)
  • Rio Grande do Norte Rio Grande do Norte (15)
  • Paraíba Paraíba (16)
  • Maranhão Maranhão (17)
  • Sergipe Sergipe (18)
  • Piauí Piauí (20)

Teams from Ceará and Bahia with the worst 2026 CBF club ranking were allocated to Pot 5. All the clubs were drawn into four groups of five, with one team from each pot. There was one restriction: teams from the same federation should play each other in the group stage. For example, if a team was drawn in Group A, its rival from the same federation would be drawn in Group B. If the team was drawn in Group C, its rival would be drawn in Group D. The 2026 CBF club ranking is shown in parentheses.

Group stage draw
Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4 Pot 5

Group stage

In the group stage, the 20 teams were drawn into four groups of five teams each. Each team in Group A played each team in Group B once, and each team in Group C played each team in Group D once. The clubs drawn to form Groups A and C played three home games and two away games. The top two teams of each group advanced to the quarter-finals of the knockout stages. The teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, the following criteria would be used to determine the ranking: 1. Wins; 2. Goal difference; 3. Goals scored; 4. Fewest red cards; 5. Fewest yellow cards; 6. Draw in the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation (Regulations Article 13).[4]

Group A

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Bahia Vitória 5 3 1 1 14 8 +6 10 Advance to Quarter-finals
2 Alagoas ASA 5 2 3 0 7 4 +3 9
3 Paraíba Sousa 5 2 1 2 8 7 +1 7
4 Piauí Fluminense-PI 5 1 3 1 4 4 0 6
5 Sergipe Itabaiana 5 0 3 2 4 8 −4 3
Source: CBF

Group B

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Sergipe Confiança 5 2 2 1 7 7 0 8 Advance to Quarter-finals
2 Bahia Juazeirense 5 1 3 1 8 8 0 6
3 Paraíba Botafogo-PB 5 1 3 1 8 9 −1 6
4 Alagoas CRB 5 1 2 2 5 6 −1 5
5 Piauí Piauí 5 1 1 3 3 7 −4 4
Source: CBF

Results: Group A vs. Group B

Source:CBF
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Group C

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Pernambuco Sport 5 4 0 1 11 3 +8 12 Advance to Quarter-finals
2 Ceará Ceará 5 3 1 1 11 6 +5 10
3 Ceará Ferroviário 5 2 1 2 6 8 −2 7
4 Rio Grande do Norte América de Natal 5 1 2 2 4 6 −2 5
5 Maranhão Imperatriz 5 1 1 3 4 7 −3 4
Source: CBF

Group D

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Rio Grande do Norte ABC 5 3 1 1 11 4 +7 10 Advance to Quarter-finals
2 Ceará Fortaleza 5 3 1 1 6 4 +2 10
3 Pernambuco Retrô 5 3 1 1 7 6 +1 10
4 Bahia Jacuipense 5 0 1 4 2 8 −6 1
5 Maranhão Maranhão 5 0 1 4 4 14 −10 1
Source: CBF

Results: Group C vs. Group D

Source:CBF
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Final stages

Starting from the quarter-finals, the teams played a single-elimination tournament with the following rules:[4]

  • Quarter-finals were played on a single-leg basis, with the higher-seeded team hosting the leg.
    • If tied, the penalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winners (Regulations Article 21).
  • Semi-finals and Finals were played on a home-and-away two-legged basis, with the higher-seeded team hosting the second leg.
    • If tied on aggregate, the penalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winners (Regulations Article 21).
  • Extra time would not be played and away goals rule would not be used in final stages.

Starting from the semi-finals, the teams were seeded according to their performance in the tournament. The teams were ranked according to overall points. If tied on overall points, the following criteria would be used to determine the ranking: 1. Overall wins; 2. Overall goal difference; 3. Overall goals scored; 4. Fewest red cards in the tournament; 5. Fewest yellow cards in the tournament; 6. Draw in the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation (Regulations Article 19).[4]

Bracket

Quarter-finals Semi-finals Finals
             
Sergipe Confiança 1
Ceará Fortaleza 2
Ceará Fortaleza 1 2 3
Pernambuco Sport 2 0 2
Pernambuco Sport 1
Alagoas ASA 0
Ceará Fortaleza 1 1 2
Bahia Vitória 2 2 4
Bahia Vitória 1
Ceará Ceará 0
Bahia Vitória 6 4 10
Rio Grande do Norte ABC 2 3 5
Rio Grande do Norte ABC 4
Bahia Juazeirense 0

Quarter-finals

Team 1  Score  Team 2
Vitória Bahia 1–0 Ceará Ceará
Confiança Sergipe 1–2 Ceará Fortaleza
Sport Pernambuco 1–0 Alagoas ASA
ABC Rio Grande do Norte 4–0 Bahia Juazeirense

Group E

Vitória Bahia1–0Ceará Ceará
Renato Kayzer 73' Report
Referee: Denis da Silva Ribeiro Serafim (Alagoas)

Group F

Confiança Sergipe1–2Ceará Fortaleza
Ícaro 88' (pen.) Report Vitinho 6'
Miritello 41'
Referee: Paulo José Souza Mourão (Maranhão)

Group G

Sport Pernambuco1–0Alagoas ASA
Felipinho 79' Report
Referee: Wagner Francisco Silva Souza (Bahia)

Group H

ABC Rio Grande do Norte4–0Bahia Juazeirense
Igor Bahia 4' (pen.), 39'
João Pedro 79'
Bruno Leite 90+1'		 Report

Semi-finals

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Host
2 Rio Grande do Norte ABC 6 4 1 1 15 4 +11 13 Second leg
3 Bahia Vitória 6 4 1 1 15 8 +7 13 First leg
1 Pernambuco Sport 6 5 0 1 12 3 +9 15 Second leg
4 Ceará Fortaleza 6 4 1 1 8 5 +3 13 First leg
Source: CBF
Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Vitória Bahia 10–5 Rio Grande do Norte ABC 6–2 4–3
Fortaleza Ceará 3–2 Pernambuco Sport 1–2 2–0

Group I

Vitória Bahia6–2Rio Grande do Norte ABC
Renato Kayzer 24', 45+11' (pen.)
Renê 46', 58'
Osvaldo 82', 90+2' (pen.)		 Report Igor Bahia 7'
Wallyson 42'
Referee: Léo Simão Holanda (Ceará)
ABC Rio Grande do Norte3–4Bahia Vitória
Luiz Fernando 15', 35'
Igor Bahia 87'		 Report Nathan Mendes 20'
Baralhas 72'
Fabri 88'
Erick 90+4' (pen.)
Referee: Antônio Dib Moraes de Sousa (Piauí)

Group J

Fortaleza Ceará1–2Pernambuco Sport
Luiz Fernando 72' Report Pedro Perotti 9', 46'
Referee: Emerson Ricardo de Almeida Andrade (Bahia)
Sport Pernambuco0–2Ceará Fortaleza
Report Miritello 35'
Vitinho 56'
Referee: Denis da Silva Ribeiro Serafim (Alagoas)

Finals

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Host
1 Bahia Vitória 8 6 1 1 25 13 +12 19 2nd leg
2 Ceará Fortaleza 8 5 1 2 11 7 +4 16 1st leg
Source: CBF
Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Fortaleza Ceará 2–4 Bahia Vitória 1–2 1–2

Group K

Fortaleza Ceará1–2Bahia Vitória
Vitinho 54' Report Renato Kayzer 83' (pen.)
Tarzia 90+2'
Referee: Afro Rocha de Carvalho Filho (Paraíba)
Vitória Bahia2–1Ceará Fortaleza
Martínez 71'
Renato Kayzer 90'		 Report Luiz Fernando 27'
Referee: Rodrigo José Pereira de Lima (Pernambuco)

References

  1. ↑ "Casas Bahia assume naming rights da Copa do Nordeste" (in Portuguese). Meio & Mensagem. 25 March 2026.
  2. ↑ "CBF oficializa datas do calendário do Futebol do Brasil profissional masculino de 2026" (in Portuguese). CBF. 4 October 2025.
  3. ↑ "Clubes que jogarem Libertadores ou Sul-Americana não disputarão torneios regionais; entenda" (in Portuguese). Globo. 1 October 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "REC Regulamento Específico da Competição Copa do Nordeste 2026" (PDF) (in Portuguese). CBF.
  5. ↑ "Regionais 2026: veja classificados para as Copas do Nordeste, Sul-Sudeste, Norte e Centro-Oeste" (in Portuguese). Globo. 10 December 2025.
  6. ↑ "CBF sorteia grupos da Copa do Nordeste 2026" (in Portuguese). CBF. 3 March 2026.
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