Clubs gear up for Campeonato Paulista

The 2011 Brazilian Campeonato Paulista kicks off on January 15 with no shortage of teams in contention for the Sao Paulo state championship title.

Santos, Sao Paulo, Corinthians and Palmeiras are among the favourites but all four have had to deal with big-name departures in the off-season.

Title holders Santos again look strong and will be hoping to reproduce the same attacking football that plundered a staggering 72 goals last time around.

Dorival Junior has left as coach of the club after he fell out with the board over talented youngster Neymar.

His replacement, Adilson Batista, still has Neymar in his squad but will have to do without Robinho, who left for AC Milan in the off-season.

Alan Patrick, Ze Eduardo, Paulo Henrique Lima and the returning Elano – who is back at his former club after five years in Europe – are tipped to impress.

Sao Paulo made it all the way to the semi-finals in 2010 before going out to the eventual champions, and they will be looking to break a six-year drought in the tournament.

PC Carpegiani is the man in charge at Sao Paulo and the experienced coach is slowly rebuilding his squad, with youngsters such as Casemiro, Lucas Gaucho and Lucas Moura expected to play a prominent role in the campaign.

Corinthians finished fifth last season and failed to make the play-offs, but with 26 titles to their name are the most successful club in the tournament.

Tite is the man at the helm this season and has one of the best squads in the competition, with veterans Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos at his disposal as well as the likes of Dentinho, Jorge Henrique, Jucilei and Bruno Cesar.

But they will have to make do without influential midfielder Elias, who has left for Atletico Madrid.

Palmeiras – the 2008 champions – had a disappointing campaign in 2010, finishing in 11th place, with the arrival of former Chelsea and Brazil coach Luis Felipe Scolari in June doing little to improve their fortunes.

So far, the club has failed to bring in a single player and have stated that they may have to rely on their youngsters.

In the first phase, all 20 clubs will play each other once with the top eight teams then contesting a seeded play-off series for the title, while the bottom four sides drop into Serie A2.