2018 Copa do Nordeste

The 2018 Copa do Nordeste was the 15th 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.
Sampaio Corrêa defeated the defending champions Bahia 1–0 on aggregate to win their first Copa do Nordeste title. As champions, Sampaio Corrêa qualified for the Round of 16 of the 2019 Copa do Brasil.

Format changes

In 2018 season there was a qualifying stage. In the qualifying stage, a total of 8 teams competed in a single-elimination tournament where the four winners advanced to the group stage. The group stage had only 4 groups. 12 teams gained direct entries into the group stage while the other four berths were decided by the qualifying stage.

Teams

The entry stage was determined as follows:

Group stage: 12 teams
*Teams which qualified for berths 1–2 from Bahia, Ceará and Pernambuco
*Teams which qualified for berth 1 from Alagoas, Maranhão, Paraíba, Piauí, Rio Grande do Norte and Sergipe
Qualifying stage: 8 teams
*Teams which qualified for berth 3 from Bahia and Pernambuco
*Teams which qualified for berth 2 from Alagoas, Maranhão, Paraíba, Piauí, Rio Grande do Norte and Sergipe

Association	Team	Entry stage	Qualification method
Alagoas 2 berths	CRB	Group stage	2017 Campeonato Alagoano champions
Alagoas 2 berths	CSA	Qualifying stage	2017 Campeonato Alagoano runners-up
Bahia 3 berths	Vitória	Group stage	2017 Campeonato Baiano champions
Bahia 3 berths	Bahia	Group stage	2017 Campeonato Baiano runners-up
Bahia 3 berths	Fluminense de Feira	Qualifying stage	2017 Campeonato Baiano 3rd place
Ceará 2 berths	Ceará	Group stage	2017 Campeonato Cearense champions
Ceará 2 berths	Ferroviário	Group stage	2017 Campeonato Cearense runners-up
Maranhão 2 berths	Sampaio Corrêa	Group stage	2017 Campeonato Maranhense champions
Maranhão 2 berths	Cordino	Qualifying stage	2017 Campeonato Maranhense runners-up
Paraíba 2 berths	Botafogo-PB	Group stage	2017 Campeonato Paraibano champions
Paraíba 2 berths	Treze	Qualifying stage	2017 Campeonato Paraibano runners-up
Pernambuco 3 berths	Salgueiro	Group stage	2017 Campeonato Pernambucano runners-up
Pernambuco 3 berths	Santa Cruz	Group stage	2017 Campeonato Pernambucano 3rd place
Pernambuco 3 berths	Náutico	Qualifying stage	2017 Campeonato Pernambucano 4th place
Piauí 2 berths	Altos	Group stage	2017 Campeonato Piauiense champions
Piauí 2 berths	Parnahyba	Qualifying stage	2017 Campeonato Piauiense runners-up
Rio Grande do Norte 2 berths	ABC	Group stage	2017 Campeonato Potiguar champions
Rio Grande do Norte 2 berths	Globo	Qualifying stage	2017 Campeonato Potiguar runners-up
Sergipe 2 berths	Confiança	Group stage	2017 Campeonato Sergipano champions
Sergipe 2 berths	Itabaiana	Qualifying stage	2017 Campeonato Sergipano runners-up

Schedule

The schedule of the competition was as follows.

Draws

The draw for the qualifying stage was held on 3 July 2017, 11:00, at the CBF headquarters in Rio de Janeiro.
Teams were seeded by their 2017 CBF ranking. The eight teams were drawn into four ties, with the Pot A teams hosting the second leg.

Pot A	Pot B

The draw for the group stage was held on 6 September 2017, 21:00, at the Auditório da Federação das Indústrias do Estado do Maranhão in São Luís.
For the group stage, the 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four containing a team from each of the four pots. Teams were seeded by their 2017 CBF ranking excluding the winners of the qualifying stage, which were allocated to Pot 4.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4

Qualifying stage

In the qualifying stage, each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. If tied on aggregate, the away goals rule would be used. If still tied, extra time would not be played, and the penalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winner.

Matches

Group stage

In the group stage, each group was played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The teams were ranked according to points. If tied on points, the following criteria would be used to determine the ranking: 1. Wins; 2. Goal difference; 3. Goals scored; 4. Head-to-head. If tie on aggregate, the away goals rule would be used ; 5. Fewest red cards; 6. Fewest yellow cards; 7. Draw in the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation.
The winners and runners-up of each group advanced to the quarter-finals of the knockout stages.

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Final stages

Starting from the quarter-finals, the teams played a single-elimination tournament with the following rules:

Each tie would be played on a home-and-away two-legged basis, with the higher-seeded team hosting the second leg.
If tied on aggregate, the away goals rule would be used. If still tied, extra time would not be played, and the penalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winner.
Seeding

The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 2 April 2018, 12:00, at the CBF headquarters in Rio de Janeiro. The 8 qualified teams were drawn into four ties between a group winner and a group runner-up, with the group winners hosting the second leg.

Pot 1	Pot 2
Santa Cruz Vitória Bahia Ceará	CRB ABC Botafogo-PB Sampaio Corrêa

Starting from the semi-finals, the teams would be seeded according to their performance in the tournament. The teams would be 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. Draw in the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation.

Bracket

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Finals

Top goalscorers