1938 Campeonato Paulista

The 1938 Campeonato Paulista da Primeira Divisão, organized by the LFESP (Liga de Futebol do Estado de São Paulo), was the 37th season of São Paulo's top professional football league. Corinthians won the title for the 10th time. no teams were relegated and the top scorer was São Paulo's Elyseu with 13 goals.

Campeonato Paulista

Season	1938
Champions	Corinthians
Matches played	55
Goals scored	209 (3.8 per match)
Top goalscorer	Elyseo (São Paulo) – 13 goals
Biggest home win	São Paulo 8–1 Luzitano (December 11, 1938)
Biggest away win	São Paulo 0–5 Portuguesa (April 2, 1939)
Highest scoring	São Paulo 8–1 Luzitano (December 11, 1938)
← 1937 1939 →

System

The championship was disputed in a single-round robin system, with the team with the most points winning the title.

Due to the national team's preparation for the World Cup, the championship was interrupted in April, and would return only in late September. To avoid having the teams spend five months without any activity, an extra tournament was created to fill the teams' schedules. That tournament would have the teams divided into three groups of four, with each playing the teams in its own group twice, and the champions of Group B qualifying directly to the Finals, while the champions of Groups A and C played each other to define the other finalist. Palestra Itália won that tournament, beating Corinthians in the Finals, and to this day there is a debate about whether the extra tournament qualifies as a Paulista championship.

Extra tournament

First stage

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	São Paulo Railway	6	3	3	0	13	8	+5	9	Qualified to Semifinals
2	Estudantes	4	2	1	1	8	5	+3	5
3	Portuguesa	6	1	2	3	8	13	−5	4
4	Portuguesa Santista	4	0	2	2	7	10	−3	2

Updated to match(es) played on July 17, 1938. Source: RSSSF.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) wins; 4) head-to-head points.
Notes:

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Corinthians	6	4	2	0	10	4	+6	10	Qualified to Finals
2	Santos	6	3	1	2	12	6	+6	7
3	Luzitano	6	1	2	3	5	11	−6	4
4	Juventus	6	1	1	4	7	3	+4	3

Updated to match(es) played on July 17, 1938. Source: RSSSF.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) wins; 4) head-to-head points.

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Palestra Itália	6	5	0	1	15	5	+10	10	Qualified to Semifinals
2	Hespanha	6	3	1	2	9	6	+3	7
3	São Paulo	6	2	0	4	8	10	−2	4
4	Ypiranga	6	1	1	4	6	13	−7	3

Updated to match(es) played on July 17, 1938. Source: RSSSF.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) wins; 4) head-to-head points.

Semifinals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
São Paulo Railway	1–4	Palestra Itália	1-1	0–3

Finals

Palestra Itália v Corinthians

21 August 1938	Palestra Itália	0 – 0	Corinthians	Parque Antárctica, São Paulo
				Referee: Arthur Cidrim

Corinthians v Palestra Itália

18 September 1938	Corinthians	1 – 2	Palestra Itália	Parque Antárctica, São Paulo
	Teleco 70'		Barrilote 16' Rolando 54'	Referee: José Alexandrino

Championship

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Corinthians	10	7	3	0	19	8	+11	17	Champions
2	São Paulo	10	6	2	2	30	13	+17	14
3	Portuguesa Santista	10	6	1	3	22	13	+9	13
4	Palestra Itália	10	5	2	3	21	22	−1	12
5	Santos	10	4	1	5	22	18	+4	9
6	Juventus	10	4	1	5	14	15	−1	9
7	Portuguesa	10	4	0	6	20	18	+2	8
8	Hespanha	10	4	0	6	15	18	−3	8
9	São Paulo Railway	10	3	2	5	19	23	−4	8
10	Ypiranga	10	4	0	6	15	23	−8	8
11	Luzitano	10	2	0	8	12	38	−26	4
12	Estudantes	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Folded

Updated to match(es) played on April 25, 1939. Source: RSSSF.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) wins; 4) head-to-head points.