1997 Campeonato Paulista
# 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 by the 22nd time. América and Botafogo were relegated.

## 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 | Qualified to Final group |
| 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 | Relegated |

**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 | Qualified to Final group |
| 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 | |

### 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 | |
