- Mirassol are competing in their first-ever CONMEBOL Libertadores and advanced to the Round of 16 from Group G with 12 points, just five seasons after playing in Série D.
- In the Round of 16, they will meet Liga de Quito again, having already faced them in the same group, with the two legs scheduled for August 13 and August 20.
Some clubs take a century to make their mark on the continental stage. Mirassol did it in five years. The team from the state of São Paulo, founded in 1925 and celebrating its centenary in 2025, completed one of the most remarkable rises in recent Brazilian football history: Série D champions in 2020, Série C champions in 2022, Série B runners-up in 2024 and, finally, Série A debutants in 2025. That momentum carried them into the CONMEBOL Libertadores for the first time in their history. And simply getting there was not enough: Mirassol kept making history by reaching the Round of 16.
The contrast in scale lies at the heart of the story. Mirassol is a city of around 65,000 inhabitants in northwestern São Paulo state, while its stadium, the José Maria de Campos Maia, holds roughly 19,000 spectators. The city’s entire population could comfortably fit inside the Maracanã. With the most modest budget in Série A and a transfer policy built largely around loans and free signings, the club has based its structure on a simple idea that is difficult to execute: grow without spending beyond its means. Qualification for the Group Stage alone generated revenue several times greater than the club’s annual investment in its first-team squad.
On the touchline is Rafael Guanaes, the Brazilian coach who arrived in 2025 and was moved to tears when his team secured qualification for the next round. On the pitch, the club’s emblematic figure has a name: Reinaldo, the 36-year-old left-back who joined on a free transfer at the start of 2025 after making his mark with São Paulo and Grêmio. Captain, penalty taker and emotional leader — he was the team’s top scorer in the 2025 Brasileirão with 13 goals — Reinaldo embodies the spirit of a squad that blends experienced veterans with players seeking another chance to prove themselves. “The human being comes before the player,” he often says, in what he himself has described as his final dance.
Mirassol finished their Group G campaign with 12 points in a section they shared with Lanús, Always Ready and, fittingly, Liga de Quito. The numbers speak for themselves: they are only the sixth club to have competed in both Série D and the CONMEBOL Libertadores, and the first to complete that journey within just five years. More than a statistic, it is a record that sums up an entire way of understanding football.
Waiting on the other side are familiar opponents. Liga de Quito are no ordinary rivals: they won the CONMEBOL Libertadores in 2008 — becoming the first Ecuadorian club to lift the trophy — and claimed the CONMEBOL Sudamericana in 2009 and 2023, while turning the altitude of the Estadio Rodrigo Paz Delgado into a formidable home advantage. They also arrive with a new man in charge, having appointed Argentine coach Gustavo Álvarez in late July. There is an added twist: the two sides already met in the Group Stage and traded one win apiece, making this Round of 16 tie a true decider.
The series will begin on Thursday, August 13 at the José Maria de Campos Maia and conclude on Thursday, August 20 at Quito’s ‘Casa Blanca’. For Mirassol, every match offers another image that would have seemed unthinkable only a few seasons ago: the club that climbed all the way from the fourth tier is now going toe to toe with continental royalty, fearless and still dreaming of adding new chapters to a story that already feels like fiction.
