2016 Copa do Nordeste

The 2016 Copa do Nordeste was the 14th edition of the main football tournament featuring teams from the Brazilian Northeast Region. The competition featured 20 clubs, with Bahia and Pernambuco having three seeds each, and Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Sergipe, Alagoas, Paraíba, Maranhão and Piauí with two seeds each. Santa Cruz (Pernambuco) qualified to play in the 2016 Copa Sudamericana,^[1] after winning the final against Campinense (Paraíba) 3–2 on aggregate.
Santa Cruz also qualified to play in the 2017 Copa Sudamericana but CONMEBOL reduced the Brazilian berths from 8 to 6. Therefore, the champions Santa Cruz (Copa do Nordeste) and Paysandu (Copa Verde) lost their Copa Sudamericana berths.^[2] Finally, they qualified for the 2017 Copa do Brasil Round of 16.^[3]
Ceará were the defending champion, but were eliminated by Santa Cruz in the quarterfinals.

2016 Copa do Nordeste

Country	Brazil
Dates	14 February – 1 May
Teams	20
Champions	Santa Cruz
Runners-up	Campinense
2016 Copa Sudamericana	Santa Cruz
2017 Copa do Brasil	Santa Cruz
Matches played	74
Goals scored	179 (2.42 per match)
Top goal scorer(s)	Rodrigão (9 goals)
← 2015 2017 →

Qualified teams

Association	Team (Berth)	Entry stage
Alagoas 2 berths	CRB	2015 Campeonato Alagoano champions
	Coruripe	2015 Campeonato Alagoano runners-up
Bahia 3 berths	Bahia	2015 Campeonato Baiano champions
	Vitória da Conquista	2015 Campeonato Baiano runners-up
	Juazeirense	2015 Campeonato Baiano 3rd place
Ceará 2 berths	Fortaleza	2015 Campeonato Cearense champions
	Ceará	2015 Campeonato Cearense runners-up
Maranhão 2 berths	Imperatriz	2015 Campeonato Maranhense champions
	Sampaio Corrêa	2015 Campeonato Maranhense runners-up
Paraíba 2 berths	Campinense	2015 Campeonato Paraibano champions
	Botafogo-PB	2015 Campeonato Paraibano runners-up
Pernambuco 3 berths	Santa Cruz	2015 Campeonato Pernambucano champions
	Salgueiro	2015 Campeonato Pernambucano runners-up
	Sport	2015 Campeonato Pernambucano 3rd place
Piauí 2 berths	Ríver	2015 Campeonato Piauiense champions
	Flamengo-PI	2015 Campeonato Piauiense runners-up
Rio Grande do Norte 2 berths	América de Natal	2015 Campeonato Potiguar champions
	ABC	2015 Campeonato Potiguar runners-up
Sergipe 2 berths	Confiança	2015 Campeonato Sergipano champions
	Estanciano	2015 Campeonato Sergipano runners-up

Group stage

Key to colours in group tables
	Advance to the Final stage

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Campinense	6	5	1	0	13	3	+10	16
2	Salgueiro	6	3	1	2	9	5	+4	10
3	ABC	6	1	1	4	6	13	−7	4
4	Imperatriz	6	1	1	4	6	13	−7	4

Source:^{[citation needed]}

Source:CBF

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	CRB	6	3	1	2	8	5	+3	10
2	América de Natal	6	2	3	1	7	6	+1	9
3	Coruripe	6	2	2	2	7	8	−1	8
4	Estanciano	6	1	2	3	3	6	−3	5

Source:^{[citation needed]}

Source:CBF

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Bahia	6	6	0	0	12	2	+10	18
2	Santa Cruz	6	3	1	2	7	4	+3	10
4	Confiança	6	1	1	4	4	11	−7	4
3	Juazeirense	6	0	2	4	4	10	−6	2

Source:^{[citation needed]}

Source:CBF

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Sport	6	3	2	1	12	8	+4	11
2	Fortaleza	6	3	1	2	9	7	+2	10
3	Ríver	6	1	3	2	8	10	−2	6
4	Botafogo-PB	6	1	2	3	6	10	−4	5

Source:^{[citation needed]}

Source:CBF

Group E

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Ceará	6	4	1	1	13	4	+9	13
2	Sampaio Corrêa	6	3	1	2	8	6	+2	10
3	Vitória da Conquista	6	3	1	2	6	4	+2	10
4	Flamengo-PI	6	0	1	5	1	14	−13	1

Source:^{[citation needed]}

Source:CBF

Ranking of second placed teams

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Salgueiro	6	3	1	2	9	5	+4	10
2	Santa Cruz	6	3	1	2	7	4	+3	10
3	Fortaleza	6	3	1	2	9	7	+2	10
4	Sampaio Corrêa	6	3	1	2	8	6	+2	10
5	América de Natal	6	2	3	1	7	6	+1	9

Source:^{[citation needed]}

Knockout phase

Bracket

	Quarter-finals						Semi-finals						Finals
	Santa Cruz	2	1	3
	Ceará	1	0	1
							Santa Cruz	2	1	3
							Bahia	2	0	2
	Fortaleza	1	1	2
	Bahia	2	1	3
													Santa Cruz	2	1	3
													Campinense	1	1	2
	CRB	2	0	2
	Sport (a)	1	1	2
							Sport	1	0	1 (1)
							Campinense (p)	0	1	1 (3)
	Salgueiro	0	2	2
	Campinense	2	1	3

Quarterfinals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Fortaleza	2–3	Bahia	1–2	1–1
Santa Cruz	3–1	Ceará	2–1	1–0
CRB	2–2 (a)	Sport	2–1	0–1
Salgueiro	2–3	Campinense	0–2	2–1

Semifinals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Santa Cruz	3–2	Bahia	2–2	1–0
Sport	1–1 (1–3 p)	Campinense	1–0	0–1

Finals

27 April 2016

21:45

Santa Cruz	2–1	Campinense
Grafite   29' Bruno Moraes   90+2'	Report	Tiago Sala   71'

Estádio do Arruda, Recife

Attendance: 36,106

Referee: Arilson Bispo da Anunciação
Replaced by Nielson Nogueira Dias (16')

---

1 May 2016

16:00

Campinense	1–1	Santa Cruz
Rodrigão   70'	Report	Arthur Caíke   78'

Estádio Governador Ernani Sátyro, Campina Grande

Attendance: 19,859

Referee: Jailson Macêdo Freitas

2016 Copa do Nordeste Champions
Santa Cruz 1st title

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Rodrigão	Campinense	9
2	Hernane	Bahia	6
3	Grafite	Santa Cruz	5
	Keno	Santa Cruz
5	Bill	Ceará	4
	Juninho	Bahia
	Neto Baiano	CRB
	Piauí	Salgueiro
	Rafael Costa	Ceará

References

1. "Santa Cruz é campeão da Copa do Nordeste 2016". CBF (in Portuguese). 1 May 2016.
2. "Santa Cruz e Papão não terão vaga na Copa Sul-Americana de 2017". Globo (in Portuguese). 30 November 2016.
3. "Após perder vaga na 'Sula', Santa entra em oitavas da Copa do Brasil e pode recorrer à Fifa". Super Esportes (in Portuguese). 1 December 2016.