1996 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A

The 1996 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A was the 40th edition of the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, was played between August 8 and December 15, 1996. It had 24 teams and divided into two stages. In the first one, every team played against each other once. After 23 rounds, top eight clubs qualified to next stage, and the bottom two were supposed to be relegated, but CBF decided to keep Fluminense and Bragantino in Série A after the season was over due to the leak of transcripts of recorded telephone conversations broadcast in TV Globo suggested that, during the 1996 season, Atlético-PR and Corinthians general managers Mario Celso Petraglia and Alberto Dualib had conversations with the head of officials of Brazilian football to influence referee appointments. The scandal resulted in a mild individual punishment only, not like similar scandal in Italy where Juventus was relegated and others important clubs were punished.

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A

Season	1996
Champions	Grêmio 2nd Campeonato Brasileiro title 2nd Brazilian title
Relegated	No teams were relegated in this season
Copa Libertadores de América	Grêmio Cruzeiro (Copa do Brasil champions)
Matches played	290
Goals scored	787 (2.71 per match)
Top goalscorer	Paulo Nunes Renaldo (16 goals each)
← 1995 1997 →

Final stage was played in elimination system with home-and-away matches. The club with better record during first stage had the advantage to qualify in case of a draw. In the end, Grêmio won their second championship in history based on this rule. They were defeated by runners-up Portuguesa 2–0 at Morumbi Stadium, but came back on second leg, winning by the same score at their home ground, Olímpico Stadium in Porto Alegre.

Standings and results

First stage

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Cruzeiro	23	13	5	5	31	17	14	44	Qualified for next stage
2	Guarani	23	13	4	6	23	14	9	43
3	Palmeiras	23	12	7	4	42	20	22	43
4	Atlético Paranaense	23	12	3	8	41	28	13	39
5	Atlético Mineiro	23	12	3	8	39	32	7	39
6	Grêmio	23	11	5	7	42	27	15	38
7	Goiás	23	11	4	8	37	27	10	37
8	Portuguesa	23	11	3	9	32	29	3	36
9	Internacional	23	10	5	8	31	27	4	35
10	Sport	23	10	5	8	32	31	1	35
11	São Paulo	23	9	8	6	39	32	7	35
12	Corinthians	23	7	11	5	20	19	1	32
13	Flamengo	23	9	3	11	24	31	−7	30
14	Coritiba	23	9	3	11	25	30	−5	29
15	Vitória	23	8	5	10	32	39	−7	29
16	Paraná	23	8	4	11	26	30	−4	28
17	Botafogo	23	7	7	9	33	35	−2	28
18	Vasco da Gama	23	8	3	12	37	43	−6	27
19	Juventude	23	8	3	12	31	37	−6	27
20	Santos	23	7	6	10	26	31	−5	27
21	Criciúma	23	6	5	12	31	39	−8	23
22	Bahia	23	5	8	10	25	35	−10	23
23	Fluminense	23	6	4	13	26	50	−24	22	Relegated to Série B 1997
24	Bragantino	23	5	4	14	26	48	−22	19

Source:
Notes:

Final stage

	Quarter-finals						Semi-finals						Finals
	1	Cruzeiro	0	1
	8	Portuguesa	3	0
							Atlético Mineiro		0	2
							Portuguesa		1	2
	4	Atlético Mineiro	3	0
	5	Atlético (PR)	1	1
													Portuguesa		2	0
													Grêmio		0	2
	2	Palmeiras	1	1
	7	Grêmio	3	0
							Grêmio		3	2
							Goiás		1	2
	3	Goiás	3	0
	6	Guarani	1	1

Grêmio won based on their better record during first stage.

Campeonato Brasileiro 1996 champions
Grêmio 2nd title

Top scorers

#	Player	Team	Goals
1	Paulo Nunes	Grêmio	16
	Renaldo	Atlético Mineiro
3	Túlio	Botafogo	13
	Paulo Rink	Atlético Paranaense
5	Djalminha	Palmeiras	12
	Aílton	Guarani
7	Oséas	Atlético Paranaense	11
	Müller	São Paulo
	Mabilia	Criciúma
	Leandro Machado	Internacional
	Rodrigo Fabri	Portuguesa