From Série D to the Libertadores: How Mirassol Sharpened Their Edge with IMPECT

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Hannah Knowles, Catapult Sports

Key Takeaways:

• Mirassol rose from Série D to Série A in five years, finished fourth in their debut top-flight season and qualified for the 2026 Copa Libertadores.

• The club layered IMPECT tactical data on top of its Catapult Vector GPS setup to move from describing matches to shaping them, starting with the metrics most closely correlated with winning.

• Mirassol’s analysts build an opponent profile dashboard every match week, and are now integrating IMPECT’s API into their internal platform to extend the same data to scouting and player tracking.

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A Meteoric Ascent

Mirassol is a city of around 65,000 people in the São Paulo countryside. Its football club, founded in 1925, spent most of its first century of existence in the lower reaches of the Brazilian game.

São Paulo state is home to some of South America’s most decorated clubs: Corinthians, Palmeiras, Santos and São Paulo FC. For decades, Mirassol competed in the lower divisions of Brazilian football, away from the spotlight its neighbors enjoyed.

But everything changed in June 2017. When French club Lille signed Luiz Araujo, a former Mirassol academy player, a sell-on clause from his 2013 transfer to São Paulo FC earned Mirassol €1.5m. That windfall became the catalyst for a remarkable rise. Mirassol invested the money back into club infrastructure with four new training pitches and a renovated stadium.

By 2025, the Leão had climbed from Série D to Série A in just five years, and were playing in Brazil’s top flight for the first time in their history. Expectations were low. A club of Mirassol’s size, history and budget was unsurprisingly tipped for relegation. Instead, they finished fourth, smashed the points record for a newly promoted side and earned a place in the 2026 Copa Libertadores.

But as Mirassol stepped up to face Brazil’s biggest clubs, and then South America’s, they needed to raise their ceiling. The staff could see what had happened in a match: possession, shots, passes completed. What they couldn’t see was why. Which players were breaking lines? Where was the opponent most likely to progress the ball? Where were the gaps to exploit? 

Their data described the game, but they needed data that could shape it.

The Challenge: A Lack of Data

Mirassol continued investing in infrastructure as they climbed the Brazilian football pyramid. In 2022, they started using Catapult’s Vector GPS on-field monitoring products, which gave the physical performance staff a strong foundation of load and movement data. The next layer of data they needed was tactical.

When it came to pre-game preparation, post-match analysis and scouting new players, the club knew they needed to take things up a level.

“We only had access to superficial data about the game and our opponents,” explains Nikolas Trevizo, First Team Video Analyst at Mirassol.

“To progress as a club, we needed more precise data to make stronger strategic decisions.”

Mirassol Onboard IMPECT

This year, Mirassol added IMPECT to their performance stack, layering advanced tactical data on top of their existing GPS setup.

The decision came down to five factors:

• Coverage. Competition data that matched Mirassol’s domestic and international needs.

• Rich data. Granular metrics like Packing® zones, running lanes, and pressing data, for pre-game, post-match, and full-season analysis.

• Support. Straightforward onboarding and first-class customer support.

• Transparency. Objective data with a clear glossary, so staff know exactly how every metric is calculated.

• API access. The ability to feed IMPECT data directly into the club’s own internal platforms.

Starting with What Wins

Mirassol’s analysts didn’t try to absorb every IMPECT metric at once. Instead, they prioritized the data points most closely correlated with winning, starting with opponents bypassed.

From there, the scope grew. Today, Trevizo’s first-team analysts use:

• Running lanes and Packing® zones to identify how opponents progress the ball and gaps in their structure that Mirassol can exploit.
• Pressing data, which helps Mirassol regain possession quickly and execute their possession-based identity.

These metrics are built directly into the club’s workflow. Ahead of every match, Mirassol’s analysts update a dashboard of pre-selected metrics to build a profile of the next opponent.

In 2026, Mirassol are juggling the Brasileirão, the Copa do Brasil and their first Libertadores campaign, with midweek fixtures landing between weekend league games. That often leaves the analysts three or four days to prepare for a new opponent. If the data arrives late, the game plan does too, which means speed of data delivery is crucial.

Match Week in Practice

Ahead of every match, Mirassol’s team use IMPECT data and video to analyze their opponent.

“There’s no definitive answer as to whether numbers or video are more important,” says Trevizo. “But we always look to corroborate our analysis with data from IMPECT.”

Armed with this information, they tailor their tactical approach to neutralize their opponent’s threats.

For example, Trevizo recalls a Brasileirão Série A fixture against Grêmio in July this year. His team already knew how much Carlos Vinícius, the prolific forward, influenced Grêmio’s attack. By analyzing the crosses and the players involved, Mirassol changed how they defended attacks down the right flank involving the marauding Cristian Pavón.

The plan worked. Mirassol clinched a vital 2-1 home win at the Maião.

The Next Frontier: Scouting

Opponent analysis was the starting point. Now Mirassol are implementing IMPECT data into their recruitment strategy.

“In the medium term, we’re integrating the API with the club’s internal platform to track our own players and monitor athletes at other teams,” Trevizo explains. “That supports our scouting.”

Once complete, the same data that powers match preparation and post-game analysis will feed directly into recruitment.

For a club that built their rise from Série D to Série A on smart investment, consistency of data matters. Using IMPECT for analysis and recruitment, an analyst preparing next week’s opponent report and a scout evaluating a potential signing will speak a common language throughout the club.

It turns scouting from a separate project into a natural extension of the work the club already does every single week. Armed with IMPECT data, Mirassol are ready to cement their status as a mainstay in the Brasileirão Série A.

“IMPECT is an intuitive data and video analysis platform with comprehensive competition coverage that meets our needs both nationally and internationally. Using the platform’s deep set of granular metrics, we’re able to make smarter decisions on matchday and in the transfer market.”