campeonato paulista is held annually by the federação paulista de futebol (são paulo state football federation), or fpf, amongst teams residing within the state of são paulo. 20 clubs compete in the highest level of the championship (série a1). in a new format starting in 2007, each team plays the others once in a round-robin format, followed by a four-team playoff with home-and-away series. in addition, teams that finish the regular season in places 5 through 8 (that do not reside within the city of são paulo or santos) will compete in a playoff for the title of "campeão do interior" (upstate champion). the four lowest placed teams are relegated to the lower competition (série a2) for the following year.