Copa Libertadores da América: history and curiosities –

A Copa Libertadores of America and the more important football club competition South America and one of the most prestigious in the world. The tournament is sought after by all South American teams, as it guarantees a place in the FIFA Club World Cup. The champion of the Copa Libertadores also competes in the Recopa Sudamericana.

Libertadores, as it is popularly known, is organized annually by South American Football Confederation (Conmebol or CSF) and has the participation of teams from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay It is Venezuela. Teams from Mexico have also participated in past editions.

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History of Libertadores

Based on the desire to create a tournament to bring together the champion clubs of each country in South America, the traditional competition had its origins in CSF Congressheld in Rio de Janeiroin 1958. But, before it was made official, there was a lot of planning and projects until the final decision was reached.

Matches between teams from different countries began to be held in South America in the year 1900through Competition Cup, which brought together clubs from Buenos Aires and Rosario, Argentina; and Montevideo, Uruguay.

Team from Rosário Central (ARG) competing in the Competence Cup in 1913. (Credit: Public Domain)

A few years later, during the months of February and March 1948was disputed to America’s Champions Cup, made up of the champion clubs of their countries in the previous year. The idea came from the Chilean Luis Valenzuelawho was president of the Federation of Chile and the CSF, and the president of Colo Colo/CHI, Robinson Alvarezwhich expressed its decision to organize the event in Santiago.

In 1958the Brazilian José Ramos de Freitasthe new president of the CSF, got in touch with the Associations of Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina and Chile, announcing his visit to the countries to discuss future activities with other leaders.

So in 1959a new congress was held in Caracas to strengthen the Chilean idea and deal with the creation of the champions cup, which, at the time, already had the support of Argentina and Brazil. Days later, the decision was made. With eight votes in favor and one against (Uruguay), and Venezuela abstaining, the CSF decided to create the Champions Cup, the initial name received by the tournament.

Read too: Beginnings of football in Brazil

First Libertadores

At first editionthe champions of seven countries. The first game was played between Peñarol, from Uruguayand Jorge Wilstermann, from Bolivia. The Uruguayans won by the score of 7 to 1. The match took place on April 19, 1960. The champion of the first edition was Peñarol, who secured the title after beating Olímpia, from Paraguay, in the final.

See some details of the first match of the tournament that were remembered by Conmebol, upon completing 58 years of history:

Libertadores names

Initially, the competition was treated as Copa dos Champions de América, but, in the following years, it was decided that the competition would be named Libertadores de América. The name was chosen in honor of the leaders of the liberation movements of Hispanic America and Brazil, active in the 18th and 19th centuries. Since then, the competition has received the addition of other names as a result of the insertion of sponsors in the tournament. Check out the names received by Libertadores:

1960 to 1964: America’s Champions Cup

1965 to 1997: Copa Libertadores of America

1998 to 2007: Toyota Libertadores Cup

2008 to 2012: Santander Libertadores Cup

2013 to 2016: Bridgestone Libertadores Cup

2017: Conmebol Libertadores Bridgestone

As of 2018: Conmebol Libertadores

Read too: world Cup

Mexico’s participation

Even though it is a South American competition, with Toyota, the main sponsor of the tournament in 1998, the interest of clubs in the competition increased significantly, due to the amounts distributed in prizes. As a result, that same year, Mexico entered, as a guest, in the list of teams that disputed the Libertadores.

The Mexicans remained in the tournament until 2016, when they decided to give up the dispute as a result of the changes implemented by Conmebol. They highlighted problems for reconcile the calendars It is dissatisfaction with the redistribution of vacancies, in which Mexico would have three teams, while Brazil and Argentina would have five. The departure of Mexico left two more vacancies, for Brazil, and one for Argentina.

Team of Tigres (Mexico) in the Libertadores dispute in 2015. (Credit: César Muñoz/Agência ANDES)

Over the years, 18 clubs Mexicans participated in the Libertadores. None theirs was champion. The teams were also not entitled to a place in the Club World Cup, even if there was a title, as the country is not affiliated with Conmebol and participated in the competition as a guest. Mexico has reached three Libertadores finals, with blue cross (2001), Chivas (2010) and tigers (2015).

Who participates in Libertadores?

The number of teams participating in the Libertadores fluctuated many times. In the first edition, the champions of seven countries participated; the following year, there were nine; then ten, and those numbers were being changed until 1965. Already in the second half of the 1960 and early 1990s 1970the number of teams alternated between 17 and 20. In 1974 to 1997Libertadores had 21 teams, with the exception of 1986 It is nineteen ninetythat have 19 teams.

In 1998, the competition changed the format and inserted the phase known as Pre-Liberatorswith this, the number of teams rose to 23. In the Pré-Libertadores, four teams faced off against each other, and the two best qualified for the next stage (of groups).

from the years 2000the number of teams rose, once again, and even 2009 alternated between 32 It is 38 participants. In 2010the number rose to 40but the following year he returned to 38.

With the change promoted by Conmebol in 2016, the format of the tournament changed again. Since 2017, the Pré-Libertadores has had three knockout and qualifying stages for the group stage. With that, the number of teams disputing the competition went to 47.

Currently, the current champion of the competition, the champion of the Copa Sudamericana and the national champion of the participating countries participate in the Libertadores. The other classified teams are defined through the criteria determined by the confederations of each country, but, in general, they are the first placed of the national championships.

The teams from Guyana, French Guiana It is Suriname, although they are located in South America, do not participate of Libertadores because they are affiliated to Football Confederation of North, Central America and the Caribbean (Concacaf).

In Brazil, the champion of the Brazil’s Cup and the top six of the Brazilian Serie A Championship. If the champion of the Copa do Brasil is among the top six of Série A, the seventh place of the Brasileirão also enters the Libertadores. If the champion of Libertadores or Sudamericana is a Brazilian team, the competition does not take away a place from the champion country. Therefore, Brazil may have up to nine representatives in the Libertadores.

Check the number of official vacancies for each country in Libertadores:

dispute format

The Libertadores dispute is divided into three steps: Preliminary or Pre-Liberators (three phases), groups It is Final (round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals and final).

→ Preliminary

• First phase: is disputed by six representative teams from Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. The games take place in round-trip knockout matches. In the event of a tie on aggregate, the away goals rule is considered (who scores more goals in the opponent’s stadium gets the spot), and, if equality remains, the spot is defined in the penalty shootout. The confrontations of this phase are defined by means of prize draw. Three teams qualify.

• Second level: is disputed by 16 teams, 13 of them representing Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela, in addition to the three winners of the first phase. Games are also round-trip knockouts. In the event of a tie, the remaining same criteria as the previous phase.

• Third phase: is disputed by eight teams second round winners. The games take place in round-trip knockout matches. In case of a tie, the same criteria as in the previous phase also remain. The winners of each match are classified according to group stage.

→ Groups

At this stage, the 32 teams are divided into eight groupshowever, within the same group, there cannot be two teams from the same country. Round trip games are played against each of the other teams in the same group. The top two teams in each group qualify for the round of 16 stage. The eight teams positioned in the third positionin their respective groups, qualify for the second level from the Copa Sudamericana.

→ Finals

In this phase, the knockout matches are held in the round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals and final.

• Round of 16: are disputed by the teams classified in the group stage, and the teams play round trip matches. The teams with the best performance in the group stage define their matches at home. In this phase, teams from the same country can face each other, as well as those that have already faced each other in the group stage of the competition.

• Quarterfinals: are disputed by the eight winning teams of the round of 16 clashes, which play round trip games. The teams with the best performance in the Round of 16 define their matches at home. In this phase teams from the same country can also face each other.

• Semifinals: are disputed by the four winning teams of the confrontations of the previous phase, in round trip matches. The teams with the best performance in the quarterfinals define their matches at home. In this phase teams from the same country can also face each other.

• Final: It is disputed by the winning teams of the two semifinals. The teams play a single match for the title of champion of the tournament, in a place predefined by CONMEBOL. In case of equal points at the end of the match, there is an extension of 30 minutes, divided into two periods of 15 minutes each. If, at the end of this 30-minute extension, equality persists, the winner is known by penalty shootout.

See too: Brazilian championship

Libertadores Award

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