The competition started its new season on September 6, 1972 and ended on December 23, 1972. The championship was organized by the national association CBD . At the end of the season, the Palmeiras São Paulo celebrated its fifth title.
On November 26th, Clodoaldo from FC Santos scored the 1,000 goal in the history of the Brazilian championship in the home game against Corinthians São Paulo . This was calculated from the 1971 season, as the previous championships had not yet found recognition at the time.
26 teams took part in the competition, six more than in the previous year. A second club was approved from the state of Bahia. For the first time, representatives of the Association of Amazonas, Pará, Alagoas, Sergipe and Rio Grande do Norte were at the start.
There were no promotion and relegation regulations to Série B , so the champions of Série B Sampaio Corrêa FC were not eligible to play.
1st round:
In the first round, the 26 participants played in four groups. In groups A and C with six teams each and in groups B and D with seven. The teams played against each other once across all groups. At the end of the round, the top four teams in each group advanced to the second round.
2nd round:
Here the 16 teams met in four groups of four teams each. In the groups, the teams played against each other once. The best team in each group made it to the final round.
Final round:
The final round consisted of a semi-final and a final. In all games, the teams only met once. The final ended in a draw. The team that did better in the group stage was declared champions.
Total table:
A total table was formed from the results of all games. This is used by the national association to calculate the perpetual best list.
1 round
In the game between ABC Natal and Botafogo FR on November 25, 2016, three players were illegally used by ABC. Despite the 2-1 victory by ABC, the game was therefore rated as a victory for Botafogo.
The final ended in a draw. Palmeiras São Paulo had done better in the group stage and was then declared champions (Palmeiras 42 points, Botafogo 33 points).
The table only served to determine the placement of the individual teams in the season. At times it was used by the association to determine an eternal ranking list. It is made up of all the games played. In the sorting, reaching the respective final phase has priority over the points scored.