1985 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A
Season	1985
Champions	Coritiba ; 1st Campeonato Brasileiro title; 1st Brazilian title
Copa Libertadores; de América	Coritiba ; Bangu ;
Top goalscorer	Edmar (Guarani) - 20 goals
Biggest home win	Flamengo 7-0 Santa Cruz (March 13, 1985)
Biggest away win	America-RJ 0-4 Internacional (January 27, 1985); Goiás 0-4 Corinthians (March 6, 1985); Corumbaense 1-5 Ponte Preta (April 17, 1985);
Highest scoring	Paysandu 5-4 Sampaio Corrêa (April 10, 1985)
	← 1984 1986 →

Last updated July 08, 2024

The 1985 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A was the 29th edition of the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A. Coritiba won the championship for the first time, beating Bangu in the finals; both qualified for the 1986 Copa Libertadores.

This season bears the bizarre distinction of being one of the few seasons in recorded top-level professional worldwide football history in which a team won the national championship outright while scoring fewer goals than it allowed. Coritiba won the title despite finishing with a negative overall goal differential. Another example is the 1986 K League, another split phase competition where the team that won a phase performed badly in another, before winning a finals knock out competition to win the championship.

Uberlândia finished with a goal differential of zero, but ended in 37th place.

Format

There was a first phase (which consisted of two rounds), a second phase, a semifinal, and a final. During the first two phases, a win counted as two points while a draw counted as one, as was common at the time.

First phase, Groups A and B: 20 clubs, selected from past championship records, divided into two groups of 10, with each club playing only the clubs of the other group. There were two rounds played. The winner of each group in each round would qualify (four teams in all). In addition, the two teams in each group with the best overall points from both rounds added together would qualify for the second phase. Therefore, a total of eight teams would qualify from Groups A and B.

First phase, Groups C and D: 24 clubs, 22 selected from their records in the 1984 state championships, plus the finalists of the 1984 Série B, divided into two groups of 12, playing in two rounds, with each club playing only the clubs of their own group. Again, two full rounds were played. The winner of each round in each group would qualify (four teams in all). In addition, the two teams in each group with the best overall points from both rounds added together would qualify for the second phase. Therefore, a total of eight teams would qualify from Groups C and D.

Second phase: The 16 qualified teams of the first phase were placed into four mini-leagues (or groups) with four teams each. The teams played each other twice inside their own mini-league, and the winners of each mini-league qualified to the semifinals.

Semifinal: The four qualified teams were placed into two brackets of two teams with the teams in each bracket playing twice (home and away), and the winners, decided on aggregate score, qualified to the finals.

Finals: Played by the two qualified teams, in a single match, at the stadium of the finalist with the best record throughout the championship. In case of a draw in normal time, a penalty shootout would be used to determine the champions.

First phase

First round

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Atlético Mineiro	10	6	3	1	17	8	+9	15	Second phase
2	Corinthians	10	5	3	2	14	6	+8	13
3	Guarani	10	5	2	3	17	12	+5	12
4	Grêmio	10	3	6	1	13	9	+4	12
5	Botafogo	10	4	2	4	14	16	−2	10
6	Fluminense	10	3	4	3	12	11	+1	10
7	Palmeiras	10	3	2	5	13	14	−1	8
8	Coritiba	10	3	1	6	8	14	−6	7
9	America-RJ	10	2	2	6	8	15	−7	6
10	Santa Cruz	10	2	2	6	8	20	−12	6

Source: rsssf.com

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Flamengo	10	6	2	2	12	5	+7	14	Second phase
2	Internacional	10	6	1	3	18	9	+9	13
3	Vasco da Gama	10	4	3	3	18	16	+2	11
4	Náutico	10	4	3	3	11	9	+2	11
5	São Paulo	10	4	2	4	17	19	−2	10
6	Santos	10	4	2	4	11	13	−2	10
7	Cruzeiro	10	3	4	3	11	10	+1	10
8	Bahia	10	3	4	3	8	10	−2	10
9	Portuguesa	10	2	2	6	9	16	−7	6
10	Goiás	10	1	4	5	10	17	−7	6

Source: rsssf.com

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Sport	11	9	1	1	19	3	+16	19	Second phase
2	Mixto	11	5	4	2	12	10	+2	14
3	Botafogo-PB	11	4	6	1	9	7	+2	14
4	CSA	11	5	3	3	16	11	+5	13
5	Ceará	11	4	5	2	14	8	+6	13
6	Paysandu	11	3	6	2	11	8	+3	12
7	Nacional-AM	11	4	1	6	15	18	−3	9
8	Flamengo-PI	11	3	3	5	7	10	−3	9
9	ABC-RN	11	3	3	5	10	15	−5	9
10	Sampaio Corrêa	11	1	6	4	12	16	−4	8
11	Sergipe	11	2	2	7	6	17	−11	6
12	Remo	11	1	4	6	10	18	−8	6

Source: rsssf.com

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Bangu	11	7	3	1	15	6	+9	17	Second phase
2	Ponte Preta	11	7	3	1	15	6	+9	17
3	Joinville	11	7	1	3	16	6	+10	15
4	Leônico	11	5	2	4	14	15	−1	12
5	Pinheiros	11	4	4	3	13	10	+3	12
6	Brasil de Pelotas	11	4	3	4	16	16	0	11
7	Brasília	11	4	3	4	12	12	0	11
8	Desportiva Ferroviária	11	4	0	7	12	17	−5	8
9	Villa Nova	11	3	2	6	10	15	−5	8
10	Uberlândia	11	2	4	5	11	14	−3	8
11	Vila Nova-GO	11	2	4	5	11	17	−6	8
12	Corumbaense	11	1	3	7	4	15	−11	5

Source: rsssf.com