The 2018 Campeonato Paraibano de Futebol was the 108th edition of

Paraíba Paraíba ( Tupi: ''pa'ra a'íba''; ) is a state of Brazil. It is located in the Brazilian Northeast, and it is bordered by Rio Grande do Norte to the north, Ceará to the west, Pernambuco to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Paraíba ...

's top professional football league. The competition began on 7 January and ended on 8 April. Botafogo-PB were defending champions, after defeating Treze in the 2017 final.

Format

The competition was divided into a number of stages. In the first (group) stage, the ten teams weredivided into two groups of five. Each team played the five teams in the other group, home and away, for a total of ten games. The teams that finished top of each group qualified directly for the third (semi-final) stage. The teams that finished second and third in each group qualified for the second (quarter-final) stage. Of these two teams, the one with the best record in the competition was classified first for going into the next stage. The teams that finished fourth and fifth in each group played in the relegation quadrangle stage. In the second (quarter-final) stage, the teams that finished second in each group played the team finishing third in the same group over two legs, home and away. In both ties the team that finished third in their group played the first leg at home. The two winning teams qualified for the third (semi-final) stage. The team with the best record in the competition so far was classified as third going into that stage. In the relegation quadrangle stage, the four qualifying teams played each other home and away, with no points carried forward from the first (group) stage. The two teams that finished bottom of this stage were relegated to Division 2 for 2019. In the third (semi-final) stage, the team classified fourth played the team classified first, and the team classified third played the team classified second. Both ties were played over two legs, with the lower qualified team playing the first leg at home. In the final stage, the two winning teams from the third (semi-final) stage played over two legs, with the team with the best record in the competition so far playing the first leg away from home.

Qualification

The two finalists qualified to participate in the

2019 Copa do Brasil The 2019 Copa do Brasil (officially the Copa Continental Pneus do Brasil 2019 for sponsorship reasons) was the 31st edition of the Copa do Brasil football competition. It was held between 5 February and 18 September 2019. The competition was cont ...

and

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. The two best placed teams (other than Botafogo-PB) qualified to participate in the

2019 Campeonato Brasileiro Série D The 2019 Campeonato Brasileiro Série D was a football competition held in Brazil, equivalent to the fourth division. The competition started on 4 May and ended on 18 August 2019. Sixty-eight teams competed in the tournament. Sixty-four teams qua ...

Participating teams

First stage

Group A

Group B

Quarter-final stage

Games were played between 7 and 15 March.

Semi-final stage

Games were scheduled to be played on 18 March and 25 March. The first leg between Botafogo-PB and Treze was postponed due to a legal challenge by Botafogo-PB regarding who should have home advantage according to the published rules of the competition. Following rejection of the challenge, the game was rescheduled for 25 March, with the second leg on 1 April.

Final stage

Games were played on 5 and 8 April.

Relegation quadrangle

Games took place between 7 and 25 March.

References

{{2018 in Brazilian football

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...