2022 Copa do Nordeste

The 2022 Copa do Nordeste was the 19th edition of the main football tournament featuring teams from the Brazilian Northeast Region. The competition featured 16 clubs, with Bahia, Ceará and Pernambuco having two seeds each, and Alagoas, Maranhão, Paraíba, Piauí, Rio Grande do Norte and Sergipe with one seed each. Four teams were decided by a qualifying tournament (Eliminatórias Copa do Nordeste 2022). The Copa do Nordeste began on 22 January and ended on 3 April 2022. Bahia were the defending champions, but were eliminated in the group stage.

2022 Copa do Nordeste

Tournament details
Country	Brazil
Dates	22 January – 3 April
Teams	16
Final positions
Champions	Fortaleza (2nd title)
Runner-up	Sport
2023 Copa do Brasil	Sport
Tournament statistics
Matches played	72
Goals scored	172 (2.39 per match)
Top goal scorer(s)	Hugo Rodallega (8 goals)
Awards
Best player	Mailson
← 2021 2023 →

Fortaleza defeated Sport 2–1 on aggregate in the finals to win their second title.^[1] As champions, Fortaleza would qualify for the third round of the 2023 Copa do Brasil, but they qualified for the Copa do Brasil as Série A 8th place. Therefore, the Copa do Nordeste berth was awarded to the runners-up Sport.

Format

In this season, 12 teams (9 state league champions and best placed teams in the 2021 CBF ranking from Ceará, Bahia and Pernambuco) gained direct entries into the group stage while the other four berths were decided by the Eliminatórias Copa do Nordeste.^[2]

For the group stage, the 16 teams were drawn into two groups. Each team played once against the eight clubs from the other group. Top four teams qualified for the final stages. Quarter-finals and semi-finals were played on a single-leg basis and finals were played on a home-and-away two-legged basis.^[3]

Qualification

Main article: 2022 Copa do Nordeste qualification

The 2022 Copa do Nordeste qualification (officially the Eliminatórias Copa do Nordeste 2022) was the qualifying tournament of the 2022 Copa do Nordeste. It was played from 12 October to 18 November 2021. Twenty-four teams competed to decide four places in the Copa do Nordeste. The teams entered in three rounds where the four winners advanced to the Copa do Nordeste.

The winners were CRB (Alagoas), Floresta (Ceará), Sousa and Botafogo-PB (Paraíba).^[4]

Teams

The qualified teams were^[5]

Association	Team	Qualification method
Alagoas 1 + 1 berths	CSA	2021 Campeonato Alagoano champions
	CRB	2022 Copa do Nordeste qualification
Bahia 2 berths	Atlético de Alagoinhas	2021 Campeonato Baiano champions
	Bahia	best placed team in the 2021 CBF ranking not already qualified
Ceará 2 + 1 berths	Fortaleza	2021 Campeonato Cearense champions
	Ceará	best placed team in the 2021 CBF ranking not already qualified
	Floresta	2022 Copa do Nordeste qualification
Maranhão 1 berth	Sampaio Corrêa	2021 Campeonato Maranhense champions
Paraíba 1 + 2 berths	Campinense	2021 Campeonato Paraibano champions
	Botafogo-PB	2022 Copa do Nordeste qualification
	Sousa	2022 Copa do Nordeste qualification
Pernambuco 2 berths	Náutico	2021 Campeonato Pernambucano champions
	Sport	best placed team in the 2021 CBF ranking not already qualified
Piauí 1 berth	Altos	2021 Campeonato Piauiense champions
Rio Grande do Norte 1 berth	Globo	2021 Campeonato Potiguar champions
Sergipe 1 berth	Sergipe	2021 Campeonato Sergipano champions

Schedule

The schedule of the competition was as follows.^[6]

Stage	First leg	Second leg
Group Stage	Round 1: 22 January–2 March
	Round 2: 29 January–10 March
	Round 3: 5–9 February
	Round 4: 12–27 February
	Round 5: 15–17 February
	Round 6: 19–24 February
	Round 7: 5–6 March
	Round 8: 19 March
Quarter-finals	22–24 March
Semi-finals	26–27 March
Finals	31 March	3 April

Draw

The draw for the group stage was held on 6 December 2021, 11:00, at the CBF headquarters in Rio de Janeiro.^[7] The 16 teams were drawn into two groups of eight containing two teams from each of the four pots with the restriction that teams from the same federation (except Floresta and Sousa) could not be drawn into the same group. Teams were seeded by their 2021 CBF ranking (shown in parentheses).

Group stage draw

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Bahia (11) Ceará (14) Fortaleza (18) Sport (20)	CSA (30) CRB (31) Sampaio Corrêa (33) Náutico (39)	Botafogo-PB (49) Globo (62) Altos (68) Campinense (72)	Floresta (91) Sergipe (102) Atlético de Alagoinhas (137) Sousa (192)

Group stage

For the group stage, the 16 teams were drawn into two groups of eight teams each. Each team played on a single round-robin tournament against the eight clubs from the other group. The top four 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).^[3]

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Fortaleza	8	4	4	0	17	6	+11	16	Advance to Quarter-finals
2	CSA	8	4	2	2	13	6	+7	14
3	Sport	8	4	2	2	10	6	+4	14
4	Atlético de Alagoinhas	8	3	2	3	6	8	−2	11
5	Sampaio Corrêa	8	2	1	5	8	11	−3	7
6	Campinense	8	1	3	4	8	12	−4	6
7	Globo	8	1	2	5	4	21	−17	5
8	Sergipe	8	0	1	7	3	16	−13	1

Source: CBF

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Ceará	8	5	3	0	12	2	+10	18	Advance to Quarter-finals
2	Botafogo-PB	8	4	3	1	10	6	+4	15
3	Náutico	8	4	2	2	14	8	+6	14
4	CRB	8	4	2	2	8	6	+2	14
5	Bahia	8	4	1	3	18	11	+7	13
6	Sousa	8	3	2	3	10	11	−1	11
7	Altos	8	2	3	3	7	9	−2	9
8	Floresta	8	2	1	5	7	16	−9	7

Source: CBF

Results

Home \ Away ALT BAH BOT CEA CRB FLO NAU SOU Atlético de Alagoinhas 2–1 0–1 1–0 0–0 Campinense 1–3 0–1 1–1 2–1 CSA 3–0 3–0 2–0 3–1 Fortaleza 3–1 1–1 2–0 5–0 Globo 1–0 1–1 1–1 0–2 Sampaio Corrêa 2–1 0–2 3–0 0–1 Sergipe 1–3 1–3 0–1 1–2 Sport 0–1 3–0 3–2 1–0

Home \ Away ATL CAM CSA FOR GLO SAM SER SPO Altos 1–1 1–0 1–1 0–0 Bahia 1–1 5–0 2–0 2–3 Botafogo-PB 1–0 1–1 1–1 3–0 Ceará 2–0 5–0 1–1 0–0 CRB 1–1 2–0 1–0 1–0 Floresta 1–2 4–3 0–2 1–0 Náutico 3–0 0–0 2–2 3–0 Sousa 1–0 5–1 3–2 0–0

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:^[3]

• Quarter-finals and semi-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 17).
• 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 17).
• Extra time was not played and away goals rule was not 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 18).^[3]

Bracket

	Quarter-finals					Semi-finals					Finals
		CSA	0 (1)
		Sport (p)	0 (3)
							Sport	3
							CRB	1
		Ceará	0 (3)
		CRB (p)	0 (4)
												Sport	1	0	1
												Fortaleza	1	1	2
		Fortaleza	5
		Atlético de Alagoinhas	1
							Fortaleza	2
							Náutico	0
		Botafogo-PB	1 (3)
		Náutico (p)	1 (4)

Quarter-finals

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Fortaleza	5–1	Atlético de Alagoinhas
Botafogo-PB	1–1 (3–4 p)	Náutico
Ceará	0–0 (3–4 p)	CRB
CSA	0–0 (1–3 p)	Sport

Group C

Fortaleza	5–1	Atlético de Alagoinhas
Renato Kayzer 29', 57' Moisés 52' Romero 80' Hércules 90+2'	Report	Cesinha 1'

22 March 2022

21:35

Castelão, Fortaleza

Attendance: 12,946

Referee: Fábio Augusto Santos Sá Júnior (Sergipe)

Group D

Botafogo-PB	1–1	Náutico
Leilson 71'	Report	Júnior Tavares 88'
Penalties
Gustavo Coutinho Leilson Ratinho Adilson Bahia Bruno Ré	3–4	Pedro Vitor Hereda Amarildo Juninho Carpina Júnior Tavares

23 March 2022

20:00

Almeidão, João Pessoa

Attendance: 6,206

Referee: Marcelo de Lima Henrique (Ceará)

Group E

Ceará	0–0	CRB
	Report
Penalties
Mendoza Rodrigo Lindoso Erick Dentinho Zé Roberto Nino Paraíba	3–4	Maicon Anselmo Ramon Yago Gum Diogo Silva Raul Prata

24 March 2022

19:00

Castelão, Fortaleza

Attendance: 24,492

Referee: Diego Pombo Lopez (Bahia)

Group F

CSA	0–0	Sport
	Report
Penalties
Osvaldo Wellington Nascimento Gabriel Rodrigo Rodrigues	1–3	Ronaldo Vanegas Cáceres

22 March 2022

21:35

Estádio Rei Pelé, Maceió

Attendance: 8,616

Referee: Antônio Dib Moraes de Sousa (Piauí)

Semi-finals

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Host
1	Fortaleza	9	5	4	0	22	7	+15	19	Host
2	Náutico	9	4	3	2	15	9	+6	15
3	Sport	9	4	3	2	10	6	+4	15	Host
4	CRB	9	4	3	2	8	6	+2	15

Source: CBF

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Fortaleza	2–0	Náutico
Sport	3–1	CRB

Group G

Fortaleza	2–0	Náutico
Robson 19' Romero 88'	Report

26 March 2022

17:45

Castelão, Fortaleza

Attendance: 31,681

Referee: Dênis da Silva Ribeiro Serafim (Alagoas)

Group H

Sport	3–1	CRB
Parraguez 14', 21' Luciano Juba 82'	Report	Anselmo Ramon 75'

27 March 2022

18:30

Arena Pernambuco, São Lourenço da Mata

Attendance: 22,483

Referee: Zandick Gondim Alves Júnior (Rio Grande do Norte)

Finals

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Host
1	Fortaleza	10	6	4	0	24	7	+17	22	2nd leg
2	Sport	10	5	3	2	13	7	+6	18	1st leg

Source: CBF

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Sport	1–2	Fortaleza	1–1	0–1

Group I

Sport	1–1	Fortaleza
Bill 90+1'	Report	Zé Welison 84'

31 March 2022

21:35

Arena Pernambuco, São Lourenço da Mata

Attendance: 42,544

Referee: Antônio Dib Moraes de Sousa (Piauí)

---

Fortaleza	1–0	Sport
Yago Pikachu 45+2' (pen.)	Report

3 April 2022

18:30

Castelão, Fortaleza

Attendance: 60,045

Referee: Marielson Alves Silva (Bahia)

2022 Copa do Nordeste Champions
Fortaleza 2nd title

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Team	Goals
1	Hugo Rodallega	Bahia	8
2	Anselmo Ramon	CRB	4
	Gabriel Poveda	Sampaio Corrêa
	Gustavo Coutinho	Botafogo-PB
	Robinho	Náutico
	Yago Pikachu	Fortaleza

Source:CBF

2022 Copa do Nordeste team

The 2022 Copa do Nordeste team was a squad consisting of the eleven most impressive players at the tournament.^[8]

Pos. Player Team GK Mailson a Sport DF Yago Pikachu Fortaleza DF Marcelo Benevenuto Fortaleza DF Rafael Thyere Sport DF Luciano Juba Sport MF Matheus Jussa Fortaleza MF Ronaldo Sport MF Vina Ceará MF Lucas Crispim Fortaleza FW Hugo Rodallega b Bahia FW Javier Parraguez Sport Head coach Juan Pablo Vojvoda Fortaleza a.^ Best player b.^ Top scorer

Mailson Marcelo Benevenuto Rafael Thyere Yago Pikachu Luciano Juba Matheus Jussa Ronaldo Vina Lucas Crispim Rodallega Parraguez

Head coach Vojvoda