The 2018 (officially the Brasileirão Assaí 2018 for sponsorship reasons) was the 62nd season of the , the top level of professional football in Brazil, and the 16th edition in a double round-robin since its establishment in 2003. The season began on 14 April 2018 and ended on 2 December 2018. The top six teams as well as the 2018 Copa do Brasil champions qualified to the Copa Libertadores. The next six best-placed teams not qualified for Copa Libertadores qualified for the Copa Sudamericana and the last four were relegated to Série B in 2019.
Palmeiras won their 10th title, which is the most titles in the tournament.
Teams
Twenty teams competed in the league – the top sixteen teams from the previous season, as well as four teams promoted from the Série B.
América Mineiro became the first club to be promoted after a 1–2 win against Figueirense on 11 November 2017. Internacional was promoted on 14 November 2017, and Paraná and Ceará were promoted on 18 November 2017.
|- style="horizontal-align: top;" | Pos.Relegated from 2017 Série A17ºCoritiba18ºAvaí19ºPonte Preta20ºAtlético Goianiense
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Pos.Promoted from 2017 Série B1º América Mineiro2º Internacional3° Ceará4ºParaná
Number of teams by state Number of teams State Team(s)4 Corinthians, Palmeiras, Santos and São Paulo3 América Mineiro, Atlético Mineiro and Cruzeiro2 Bahia and Vitória Atlético Paranaense and Paraná Grêmio and Internacional1 Ceará Sport Chapecoense
Stadiums and locations Team Location State Stadium CapacityAmérica MineiroBelo HorizonteIndependência 23,018Atlético MineiroBelo HorizonteIndependência 23,018Atlético ParanaenseCuritibaArena da Baixada 42,370BahiaSalvadorArena Fonte Nova Pituaçu (2 matches) 47,907 32,157BotafogoRio de JaneiroOlímpico Nilton Santos 44,661CearáFortalezaArena Castelão Presidente Vargas (5 matches) 63,903 20,268ChapecoenseChapecóArena Condá 20,089CorinthiansSão PauloArena Corinthians 47,605CruzeiroBelo HorizonteMineirão Independência (one match) 61,846 23,018FlamengoRio de JaneiroMaracanã 78,838FluminenseRio de JaneiroMaracanã Olímpico Nilton Santos (2 matches) Mané Garrincha (one match) 78,838 72,788 44,661GrêmioPorto AlegreArena do Grêmio 55,662InternacionalPorto AlegreBeira-Rio 50,128PalmeirasSão PauloAllianz Parque Pacaembu (4 matches) 43,713 37,730ParanáCuritibaVila Capanema Estádio do Café (one match) 17,140 30,000SantosSantosVila Belmiro Pacaembu (7 matches) 16,068 37,730São PauloSão PauloMorumbi 72,039SportRecifeIlha do Retiro Arena Pernambuco (one match) 32,983 44,300Vasco da GamaRio de JaneiroSão Januário Mané Garrincha (2 matches) Maracanã (one match) 24,584 72,788 78,838VitóriaSalvadorBarradão 34,535
Personnel and kits
TeamManagerCaptainKit manufacturerShirt main sponsor América Mineiro Givanildo Oliveira Rafael Lima Lupo Caixa Atlético Mineiro Levir Culpi Léo Silva Topper Caixa Atlético Paranaense Tiago Nunes Thiago Heleno Umbro Caixa Bahia Enderson Moreira Tiago Esquadrão Caixa Botafogo Zé Ricardo Rodrigo Lindoso Topper Caixa Ceará Lisca Rafael Pereira Topper Caixa Chapecoense Claudinei Oliveira Wellington Paulista Umbro Aurora Corinthians Jair Ventura Various Nike Vacant Cruzeiro Mano Menezes Henrique Umbro Caixa Flamengo Dorival Júnior Réver Adidas Caixa Fluminense Fábio Moreno Gum Under Armour Valle Express Grêmio Renato Gaúcho Maicon Umbro Banrisul Internacional Odair Hellmann Andrés D'Alessandro Nike Banrisul Palmeiras Luiz Felipe Scolari Bruno Henrique Adidas Crefisa Paraná Dado Cavalcanti Leandro Vilela Topper Caixa Santos Cuca Renato Umbro Caixa São Paulo André Jardine Hudson Adidas Banco Inter Sport Milton Mendes Durval Under Armour Caixa Vasco da Gama Alberto Valentim Martín Silva Diadora Vacant Vitória Joao Burse (caretaker) Willian Farias Topper Caixa
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyPosition in tableIncoming managerDate of appointmentSport Nelsinho BaptistaResigned24 April17th Claudinei Oliveira25 AprilCeará Marcelo ChamuscaSacked20 May19th Jorginho21 MayCorinthians Fábio CarilleSigned by Al-Wehda22 May4th Osmar Loss23 MayVasco da Gama Zé Ricardo Resigned2 June12th Valdir Bigode (caretaker)2 JuneBahia Guto FerreiraSacked3 June18th Cláudio Prates (caretaker)4 JuneCeará JorginhoResigned4 June20th Lisca4 JuneVasco da Gama Valdir Bigode End of caretaker tenure6 June13th Jorginho7 JuneFluminense Abel Braga Resigned16 June12th Marcelo Oliveira22 JuneAmérica Mineiro Enderson MoreiraSigned by Bahia16 June13th Ricardo Drubscky19 JuneBahia Cláudio PratesEnd of caretaker tenure16 June17th Enderson Moreira16 JuneBotafogo Alberto ValentimResigned19 June9th Marcos Paquetá26 JuneAtlético Paranaense Fernando DinizSacked25 June18th Tiago Nunes27 JuneAmérica Mineiro Ricardo Drubscky24 July17th Adílson Batista24 JulySantos Jair Ventura26 July15th Cuca29 JulyPalmeiras Roger Machado26 July6th Luiz Felipe Scolari26 JulyVitória Vágner Mancini28 July16th Paulo César Carpegiani14 AugustBotafogo Marcos Paquetá1 August11th Zé Ricardo3 AugustChapecoense Gilson Kleina6 August16th Guto Ferreira 6 AugustSport Claudinei OliveiraResigned12 August14th Eduardo Baptista15 AugustVasco da Gama JorginhoSacked13 August15th Alberto Valentim27 AugustParaná Rogério Micale14 August20th Claudinei Oliveira15 AugustCorinthians Osmar LossResigned5 September8th Jair Ventura6 SeptemberSport Eduardo BaptistaSacked24 September14th Milton Mendes26 SeptemberFlamengo Mauricio Barbieri28 September4th Dorival Júnior28 SeptemberChapecoense Guto Ferreira15 October17th Claudinei Oliveira16 OctoberParaná Claudinei OliveiraSigned by Chapecoense16 October20th Dado Cavalcanti17 OctoberAtlético Mineiro Thiago LarghiSacked17 October6th Levir Culpi17 OctoberAmérica Mineiro Adílson Batista10 November18th Givanildo Oliveira 11 NovemberFluminense Marcelo Oliveira29 November14th Fábio Moreno29 November
Foreign players The clubs can have a maximum of five foreign players in their Campeonato Brasileiro squads per match, but there is no limit of foreigners in the clubs' squads.
Club Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Player 4 Player 5 Player 6 América Mineiro Atlético Mineiro Juan Cazares Tomás Andrade Yimmi Chará David Terans Martín Rea Atlético Paranaense Lucho González Anderson Plata Bahia Agustín Allione Botafogo Joel Carli Junior Fernández Leonardo Valencia Rodrigo Aguirre Ceará Javier Reina Jown Cardona Chapecoense Héctor Canteros Nery Bareiro Agustín Doffo Diego Torres Edgardo Orzuza Corinthians Ángel Romero Emerson Sheik1 Sergio Díaz Ángelo Araos Cruzeiro Giorgian De Arrascaeta Ariel Cabral Lucas Romero Federico Mancuello Hernán Barcos Flamengo Gustavo Cuéllar Miguel Trauco Orlando Berrío Marlos Moreno Fernando Uribe Robert Piris Da Motta Fluminense Guillermo de Amores Junior Sornoza Bryan Cabezas Grêmio Walter Kannemann Internacional Andrés D'Alessandro Nicolás López Víctor Cuesta Jonathan Álvez Martín Sarrafiore Paolo Guerrero Palmeiras Miguel Borja Alejandro Guerra Nicolás Freire Gustavo Gómez Paraná Marcelo Báez Jorge González Santos Jonathan Copete Bryan Ruiz Carlos Sánchez Derlis González São Paulo Santiago Tréllez Robert Arboleda Gonzalo Carneiro Joao Rojas Sport Vasco da Gama Martín Silva Maxi López Andrés Ríos Leandro Desábato Oswaldo Henríquez Vitória Marcelo Meli Marcelo Benítez Walter Bou
1 Players holding Brazilian dual nationality.
Standings League table
Results
Attendance Average home attendances
Ranked from highest to lowest average attendance.
Team 1 Flamengo Maracanã 19895,64147,139 2 São Paulo Morumbi 19652,080 34,320 3 Palmeiras Allianz Parque 19614,76432,356 4 Corinthians Arena Corinthians 19595,97331,367 5 Ceará Castelão 19533,48228,078 6 Internacional Beira-Rio 19526,31927,701 7 Grêmio Arena do Grêmio 19423,01622,264 8 Bahia Fonte Nova 19366,98519,315 9 Atletico Mineiro Independência 19326,36317,177 10 Vasco da Gama São Januário 19282,72014,880 11Fluminense Maracanã 19274,70214,458 12 Cruzeiro Mineirão 19257,14613,534 13 Botafogo Nilton Santos 19219,81111,569 14 Sport Ilha do Retiro 19217,13211,428 15 Santos Vila Belmiro 19200,92510,575 16 Atletico Paranaense Arena da Baixada 19200,83010,570 17 Chapecoense Arena Condá 19178,4299,391 18 Vitória Barradão 19174,4399,181 19 Paraná Vila Capanema 19118,2186,222 20 America Mineiro Independência 1993,0434,897 – Total 3807,152,23518,821
Season statistics
Top scorers RankPlayerClubGoals1 Gabriel BarbosaSantos182 Ricardo OliveiraAtlético Mineiro133 PabloAtlético Paranaense12 Diego SouzaSão Paulo5 Leandro PereiraChapecoense11 Nicolás LópezInternacional7 Lucas PaquetáFlamengo10 Yago PikachuVasco da Gama Leandro DamiãoInternacional ÉvertonGrêmio PedroFluminense WillianPalmeiras
Source: Globoesporte.com
Assists RankPlayerClubAssists1 DuduPalmeiras152 ÉvertonSão Paulo83 Yimmi CharáAtlético Mineiro74 LuanGrêmio6 EveraldoFluminense Giorgian De ArrascaetaCruzeiro Nicolás LópezInternacional Éverton RibeiroFlamengo NikãoAtlético Paranaense Raphael VeigaAtlético Paranaense Leonardo ValenciaBotafogo Juan CazaresAtlético Mineiro Maxi LópezVasco da Gama DodôSantos Source: ESPN Deportes
Hat-tricks Player For Against Result Date Ref. Rodrygo Santos Vitória 5–2 3 June 2018 Ángel Romero Corinthians Vasco da Gama 4–1 29 July 2018 Gabriel Barbosa Santos Vasco da Gama 3–0 1 September 2018
Clean sheets RankPlayerClubCleansheets1 SantosAtlético Paranaense152 VanderleiSantos143 Júlio CésarFluminense13 ÉversonCeará5 Marcelo GroheGrêmio12 SidãoSão Paulo WevertonPalmeiras8 Diego AlvesFlamengo11 Douglas FriedrichBahia VictorAtlético Mineiro Source: FoxSports.com
Awards Annual awards
AwardWinnerClubManager of the Year Luiz Felipe ScolariPalmeirasPlayer of the Year DuduPalmeirasGoal of the Year Éverton Ribeiro, round 37 vs. Cruzeiro (8')FlamengoFan-Selected Player of the Year Gustavo CuéllarFlamengoYoung Player of the Year PedroFluminenseFair Play Team of the YearCorinthians –Referee of the Year Raphael Claus –
Série A Team of the Year Goalkeeper Marcelo Lomba(Internacional) Defence Mayke(Palmeiras) Víctor Cuesta(Internacional) Pedro Geromel(Grêmio) Renê(Flamengo) Midfield Rodrigo Dourado(Internacional) Bruno Henrique(Palmeiras) Lucas Paquetá(Flamengo) Attack Giorgian de Arrascaeta(Cruzeiro) Dudu(Palmeiras) Gabriel Barbosa(Santos)
References