The 2025 Copa do Nordeste (officially the Copa do Nordeste 2025 SUPERBET for sponsorship reasons) was the 22nd 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 da Copa do Nordeste 2025). The Copa do Nordeste began on 21 January and ended on 6 September 2025.

Fortaleza were the defending champions. Format This season, 12 teams (9 state league champions and best placed teams in the 2024 CBF ranking from Ceará, Bahia and Pernambuco) earned direct entry into the group stage while the other four berths were determined by the Eliminatórias da Copa do Nordeste.

For the group stage, the 16 teams were drawn into two groups. Each group was played on a single round-robin basis. The top four teams qualified for the final stages. The quarter-finals and semi-finals will be played on a single-leg basis, while the finals will be played on a home-and-away two-legged basis.

Qualification

The 2025 Copa do Nordeste qualification (officially the Eliminatórias da Copa do Nordeste 2025) was the qualifying tournament of the 2025 Copa do Nordeste. It was played from 4 to 8 January 2025. 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.

The winners were CSA (Alagoas), Ferroviário (Ceará), Juazeirense (Bahia) and Moto Club (Maranhão).

Teams The qualified teams are AssociationTeamQualification method AlagoasCRB2024 Campeonato Alagoano championsCSA2025 Copa do Nordeste qualification BahiaVitória2024 Campeonato Baiano championsBahiabest placed team in the 2024 CBF ranking not already qualifiedJuazeirense2025 Copa do Nordeste qualification CearáCeará2024 Campeonato Cearense championsFortalezabest placed team in the 2024 CBF ranking not already qualifiedFerroviário2025 Copa do Nordeste qualification MaranhãoSampaio Corrêa2024 Campeonato Maranhense championsMoto Club2025 Copa do Nordeste qualification ParaíbaSousa2024 Campeonato Paraibano champions PernambucoSport2024 Campeonato Pernambucano championsNáuticobest placed team in the 2024 CBF ranking not already qualified PiauíAltos2024 Campeonato Piauiense champions Rio Grande do NorteAmérica de Natal2024 Campeonato Potiguar champions SergipeConfiança2024 Campeonato Sergipano champions

Schedule The schedule of the competition is as follows. StageFirst legSecond legGroup StageRound 1: 22 JanuaryRound 2: 5 FebruaryRound 3: 12 FebruaryRound 4: 19 and 26 FebruaryRound 5: 5 and 12 MarchRound 6: 19 MarchRound 7: 23 MarchQuarter-finals4 JuneSemi-finals8 JuneFinals3 September7 September

Draw The draw for the group stage was held on 14 January 2025, 20:00, at the Hotel Grand Hyatt in Rio de Janeiro. The teams were seeded into four pots based on the 2024 CBF ranking (shown in parentheses). They were drawn into two groups of eight containing two teams from each of the pots with the restriction that teams from the same federation could not be drawn into the same group. If there were three or more qualified teams from the same federation, the two best teams in the CBF ranking would be allocated in different groups. +Group stage drawPot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4

Group stage For the group stage, the 16 teams were drawn into two groups of eight teams each. Each group was played on a single round-robin basis. 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).

Group A

Group B

Final stages Starting from the quarter-finals, the teams played a single-elimination tournament with the following rules: 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 19). 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 19). 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 20).

Bracket

Quarter-finals

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

Semi-finals

Group G

Group H

Finals

Group I

References