The 1971 Campeonato Paulista da Divisão Especial de Futebol Profissional, organized by the Federação Paulista de Futebol, was the 70th season of São Paulo's top professional football league. São Paulo won the title for the 10th time. No teams were relegated. Palmeiras's César Maluco was the top scorer with 18 goals.
As in the previous year, a preliminary phase was contested before the championship proper, in which all teams played against each other twice and the six best teams qualified into the main championship. That phase was to be disputed in the second semester of 1970, by the teams that had been eliminated in that phase in the previous year, the four worst-placed teams in the main championship, and Noroeste, that had been promoted from the Second level.
In the championship proper, each team played against the others twice, and the team with the most points won the title.