The 2023 Copa do Nordeste was the 20th edition of the main football tournament featuring teams from the Brazilian Northeast Region. The competition features 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 2023). The Copa do Nordeste began on 21 January and ended on 3 May 2023.

2023 Copa do Nordeste
Tournament details
CountryBrazil
Dates21 January – 3 May
Teams16
Final positions
ChampionsCeará (3rd title)
Runner-upSport
2024 Copa do BrasilCeará
Tournament statistics
Matches played72
Goals scored198 (2.75 per match)
Top goal scorer(s)Three players
(5 goals each)
← 2022
2024 →

All statistics correct as of 3 May 2023.

Fortaleza are the defending champions.

Format

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In this season, 12 teams (9 state league champions and best placed teams in the 2022 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.[1]

For the group stage, the 16 teams were drawn into two groups. Each team will play once against the eight clubs from the other group. Top four teams will qualify for the final stages. Quarter-finals and semi-finals will be played on a single-leg basis and finals will be played on a home-and-away two-legged basis.[2]

Qualification

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The 2023 Copa do Nordeste qualification (officially the Eliminatórias Copa do Nordeste 2023) was the qualifying tournament of the 2023 Copa do Nordeste. It was played from 5 to 8 January 2023. Sixteen teams competed to decide four places in the Copa do Nordeste. The teams entered in two rounds where the four winners advanced to the Copa do Nordeste.[3]

The winners were CSA (Alagoas), Ferroviário (Ceará), Santa Cruz (Pernambuco) and Vitória (Bahia).[4]

Teams

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The qualified teams are[5]

Association Team Qualification method
  Alagoas
1 + 1 berths
CRB 2022 Campeonato Alagoano champions
CSA 2023 Copa do Nordeste qualification
  Bahia
2 + 1 berths
Atlético de Alagoinhas 2022 Campeonato Baiano champions
Bahia best placed team in the 2022 CBF ranking not already qualified
Vitória 2023 Copa do Nordeste qualification
  Ceará
2 + 1 berths
Fortaleza 2022 Campeonato Cearense champions
Ceará best placed team in the 2022 CBF ranking not already qualified
Ferroviário 2023 Copa do Nordeste qualification
  Maranhão
1 berth
Sampaio Corrêa 2022 Campeonato Maranhense champions
  Paraíba
1 berth
Campinense 2022 Campeonato Paraibano champions
  Pernambuco
2 + 1 berths
Náutico 2022 Campeonato Pernambucano champions
Sport best placed team in the 2022 CBF ranking not already qualified
Santa Cruz 2023 Copa do Nordeste qualification
  Piauí
1 berth
Fluminense-PI 2022 Campeonato Piauiense champions
  Rio Grande do Norte
1 berth
ABC 2022 Campeonato Potiguar champions
  Sergipe
1 berth
Sergipe 2022 Campeonato Sergipano champions

Schedule

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The schedule of the competition is as follows.[6]

Stage First leg Second leg
Group Stage Round 1: 22 January
Round 2: 5 February
Round 3: 15 February
Round 4: 18 February
Round 5: 22 February and 1 March
Round 6: 5 March
Round 7: 8 and 15 March
Round 8: 22 March
Quarter-finals 26 March
Semi-finals 29 March
Finals 19 April 3 May

Draw

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The draw for the group stage was held on 21 November 2022, 15:30, at the CBF headquarters in Rio de Janeiro.[7] The teams (excluding the four teams from the qualification tournament) were seeded into three pots based on the 2022 CBF ranking (shown in parentheses). They were drawn into two groups of eight containing two teams from each of the three pots with the restriction that teams from the same federation could not be drawn into the same group.

Group stage draw
Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3

The four teams from the qualification tournament will be drawn according to the position of their federation in the CBF state ranking with the restriction that teams from the same federation can not be drawn into the same group. If there are three or more qualified teams from the same federation, the two best teams in the CBF ranking will be allocated in different groups.

Group stage

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For the group stage, the 16 teams were drawn into two groups of eight teams each. Each team will play on a single round-robin tournament against the eight clubs from the other group. The top four teams of each group will advance to the quarter-finals of the knockout stages. The teams will be 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 will 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).[2]

Group A

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1   Sport 8 6 1 1 19 5 +14 19 Advance to Quarter-finals
2   Fortaleza 8 6 0 2 15 5 +10 18
3   Ferroviário 8 3 4 1 15 11 +4 13
4   CRB 8 3 4 1 7 7 0 13
5   Sampaio Corrêa 8 2 3 3 7 11 −4 9
6   Atlético de Alagoinhas 8 2 0 6 6 16 −10 6
7   Vitória 8 1 3 4 10 13 −3 6
8   Fluminense-PI 8 0 3 5 7 18 −11 3
Source: CBF

Group B

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1   Ceará 8 5 1 2 16 11 +5 16 Advance to Quarter-finals
2   ABC 8 4 2 2 13 6 +7 14
3   Náutico 8 4 1 3 12 11 +1 13
4   Sergipe 8 3 2 3 12 8 +4 11
5   Santa Cruz 8 2 3 3 10 13 −3 9
6   Bahia 8 2 3 3 9 15 −6 9
7   Campinense 8 2 2 4 8 12 −4 8
8   CSA 8 1 4 3 6 10 −4 7
Source: CBF

Results

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

Final stages

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Starting from the quarter-finals, the teams played a single-elimination tournament with the following rules:[2]

  • 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 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 18).[2]

Bracket

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Quarter-finals Semi-finals Finals
           
  Fortaleza 4
  Ferroviário 0
  Fortaleza 2
  Ceará 3
  Ceará 3
  Sergipe 1
  Ceará (p) 2 0 2 (4)
  Sport 1 1 2 (2)
  Sport 4
  CRB 0
  Sport 1
  ABC 0
  ABC 3
  Náutico 1

Quarter-finals

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Team 1  Score  Team 2
Sport   4–0   CRB
ABC   3–1   Náutico
Ceará   3–1   Sergipe
Fortaleza   4–0   Ferroviário

Group C

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Sport  4–0  CRB
Jorginho   32'
Luciano Juba   58'
Igor Cariús   77'
Edinho   87'
Report
Referee: Diego Pombo Lopez (Bahia)

Group D

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ABC  3–1  Náutico
Felipe Garcia   13', 77'
Souza   45+3' (o.g.)
Report Tagarela   87'
Referee: Léo Simão Holanda (Ceará)

Group E

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Ceará  3–1  Sergipe
Erick   16'
Álvaro   45+2'
Luvannor   90'
Report Pedro Henrique   38'
Referee: Caio Max Augusto Vieira (Rio Grande do Norte)

Group F

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Fortaleza  4–0  Ferroviário
Lucero   4', 6'
Hércules   43'
Thiago Galhardo   71'
Report
Referee: Rodrigo José Pereira de Lima (Pernambuco)

Semi-finals

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Host
1   Sport 9 7 1 1 23 5 +18 22 Host
4   ABC 9 5 2 2 16 7 +9 17
2   Fortaleza 9 7 0 2 19 5 +14 21 Host
3   Ceará 9 6 1 2 19 12 +7 19
Source: CBF
Team 1  Score  Team 2
Sport   1–0   ABC
Fortaleza   2–3   Ceará

Group G

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Sport  1–0  ABC
Vágner Love   1' Report
Referee: Dênis da Silva Ribeiro Serafim (Alagoas)
a.^ Match suspended in the 61st minute due to rain. The remaining 29 minutes were played on 30 March 2023 at 19:00.

Group H

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Fortaleza  2–3  Ceará
Calebe   30'
Lucero   63'
Report Erick   12' (pen.)
Caíque   33'
Titi   46' (o.g.)

Finals

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Host
1   Sport 10 8 1 1 24 5 +19 25 2nd leg
2   Ceará 10 7 1 2 22 14 +8 22 1st leg
Source: CBF
Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Ceará   2–2 (4–2 p)   Sport 2–1 0–1

Group I

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Ceará  2–1  Sport
Guilherme Castilho   1'
Vitor Gabriel   45'
Report David Ricardo   90+7' (o.g.)
Referee: Caio Max Augusto Vieira (Rio Grande do Norte)

2023 Copa do Nordeste
Champions
 
Ceará
3rd title

References

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  1. ^ "Copa do Nordeste apresenta formato da edição 2023" (in Portuguese). CBF. 27 October 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d "Regulamento Específico da Competição Copa do Nordeste – 2023" (PDF) (in Portuguese). CBF.
  3. ^ "Pré-Copa do Nordeste 2023: conheça os 16 participantes e veja os prováveis duelos" (in Portuguese). Globo. 27 October 2022.
  4. ^ "Vitória, CSA, Ferroviário e Santa Cruz se classificam para a Copa do Nordeste 2023" (in Portuguese). CBF. 8 January 2023.
  5. ^ "O novo Pré-Nordestão tem "mata" e "mata" valendo 4 vagas em janeiro de 2023" (in Portuguese). Cassio Zirpoli. 25 October 2022.
  6. ^ "Com direito a polêmica, CBF define critérios para a Copa do Nordeste 2023; tabela sai nesta quarta-feira" (in Portuguese). Globo. 26 October 2022.
  7. ^ "Sorteio define grupos da Copa do Nordeste 2023" (in Portuguese). CBF. 21 November 2022.