The 1981 Campeonato Paulista da Primeira Divisão de Futebol Profissional[1] was the 80th season of São Paulo's top professional football league.
São Paulo won the championship for their 13th title.
[2] The championship would be divided into two rounds, and each round was divided into three phases - Qualifying, in which two teams qualified into the Final phase, Regular, in which six teams qualified into the Final phase, and Final, divided into two groups of four, with the winners of each group qualifying to the Finals.
Much like in the previous year,[4] the team with the fewest points would be relegated and the team with the second-fewest points would go to a playoff against the runner-up of the Second Level.
as such, Noroeste was relegated and São Bento had to dispute a playoff in neutral ground against XV de Piracicaba.