- Mirassol won Brazil’s fourth division in 2020, beginning its journey toward the elite.
- In its first appearance in the CONMEBOL Libertadores, the team will face LDU and Always Ready at altitude.
By defeating Floresta in the final of Brazil’s Serie D in 2020, Mirassol began its climb up the difficult mountain of national football. In just six years, the club from the interior of São Paulo not only reached Brazil’s top tier but, in an almost poetic coincidence, will now experience the challenges of South American altitude in its debut in continental competitions.
The CONMEBOL Libertadores Group Stage draw placed Mirassol in the same group as Bolivia’s Always Ready. The Bolivian side plays its home matches at the Estadio Municipal de El Alto, in the city of the same name, at an altitude of 4,088 meters above sea level—making it the second-highest stadium in the world, behind only the 4,380 meters of the Estadio Daniel Alcides Carrión in Cerro de Pasco, Peru.
The clash against Always Ready will not be Mirassol’s only high-altitude challenge. Ecuador’s LDU, also part of Group G, hosts its matches at the Estadio Rodrigo Paz Delgado in Quito, at 2,850 meters above sea level. Alongside these teams, Argentina’s Lanús—without the altitude factor—completes the CONMEBOL Libertadores group.
The beginning of the project
The turning point in Mirassol’s history came thanks to the sale of forward Luiz Araújo from São Paulo to Lille in France. The player was developed at the club from the interior of São Paulo, which retained 20% of his economic rights. With the proceeds from the transfer, Mirassol built a new Training Center and began paving its path toward the elite of Brazilian football.
“What we received from the player’s transfer to France gave us the opportunity to start building the training center. It was a project and a dream that we were able to realize with a modern facility, providing working conditions for both our professional players and our youth teams. One of our goals was to take part in competitions organized by the CBF to have a year-round calendar—something the training center helped us achieve,” Mirassol president Edson Antônio Ermenegildo told ge.com in 2020.
Mirassol’s rise through the divisions of Brazilian football soon followed. After winning Serie D in 2020, the team claimed the Serie C title in 2022 and, two years later, finished second in Serie B, securing its place in the top tier of national football.
The revelation of the Brasileirão
Mirassol defied all expectations in its first season in Brazil’s top flight. Under the management of Rafael Guanaes, the team defeated giants such as Grêmio, Corinthians, São Paulo, and Santos, finishing in a remarkable fourth place and securing a direct spot in the CONMEBOL Libertadores Group Stage.
The next chapter of the São Paulo countryside club’s fairy tale will begin in the week of April 7, when the CONMEBOL Libertadores Group Stage gets underway.
