Copa Sudamericana

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Copa Sudamericana
File:Copa sudamericana.png
Founded2002
RegionSouth America (CONMEBOL)
Number of teams39
Current championsEcuador LDU Quito
(1st title)
Most successful club(s)Argentina
Boca Juniors (2 titles)
WebsiteOfficial Website
2010 Copa Sudamericana qualification

The Copa Sudamericana de Clubes (officially Copa Nissan Sudamericana de Clubes for sponsorship reasons) is an annual CONMEBOL-organised club football cup competition. It is now the second most important competition in South American club football.[1] Despite being organized by CONMEBOL, they invited CONCACAF clubs betweens 2004 and 2008.[2] Clubs qualify for the competition based on their performance in their national leagues and cup competitions.

The competition began in 2002 after the discontinuation of the Copa Merconorte and Copa Mercosur[3][2] Since its introduction, the competition has been a pure elimination tournament with the number of rounds and teams varying from year to year. As of April 2010, 39 teams qualify to the Copa Sudamericana, with the champion qualifying to the subsequent Copa Libertadores and contesting the Recopa Sudamericana with the Copa Libertadores champion the following year.[4] The tournament has been won by seven different teams and played eight times.

The current champion is Ecuadorian club LDU Quito, and the most successful team in the competition is Argentine side Boca Juniors, who have won the trophy twice. Boca Juniors is also the only team to have successfully defended the title.

History

See also: List of Copa Sudamericana winners and Supercopa Sudamericana

In 1992, the Copa CONMEBOL was an international football tournament created for South American clubs that did not qualify for the Copa Libertadores and Supercopa Sudamericana.[5] This tournament was discontinued in 1999 and replaced by the Copa Merconorte and Copa Mercosur. These tournaments started in 1998 and discontinued in 2001.[6][7] A Pan-American club cup competition was intended, under the name of Copa Pan-Americana, but instead, the Copa Sudamericana was introduced in 2002 as a single-elimination tournament with Copa Mercosur champion, San Lorenzo.[8] Brazilian clubs did not participate in the 2002 edition due to many conflicting, organizational issues and scheduling conflicts with the Campeonato Brasileiro. San Lorenzo would go on to become the first ever winners of the competition after thrashing Atlético Nacional 4-0 on aggregate.

In 2003, the Japanese automobile manufacturer Nissan Motors started sponsoring the tournament. Thus, the competition has since been officially called Copa Nissan Sudamericana, much in the style of the Copa Libertadores branding as Copa Toyota Libertadores at the time. Also, Brazilian teams participated for the first time. The 2003 tournament was swept through by the surprising Cienciano as Germán Carty's goals took los imperiales to the first international title won by a Peruvian club. In the finals, Cienciano managed to hold the powerful River Plate 3-3 in Buenos Aires and managed to come up on top 1-0 on national soil to claim the spoils. After a disapointing 2004 season, Boca Juniors managed to regain some composure as they won the trophy consecutively in 2004 and 2005 defeating Club Bolívar and Pumas de la UNAM, respectively. After the failures of UNAM and Cruz Azul in the 2001 season of the Copa Libertadores, Mexican football finally managed to inscribe themselves in the list of winners of South American club football as Pachuca defeated Colo-Colo, led by two magnificent figures such Matías Fernández and Humberto Suazo. In a highly-charged atmoshere in Santiago's Estadio Nacional, Suazo brought the home team one up on the scoreboard but two second half goals from Damián Álvarez and Christian Giménez sealed the victory for a highly-spirited team. Their compatriots, Club América, tried to emulate their success but las águilas fell short on the 2007 final as Arsenal won the title thanks to a late and inspirational strike by Martín Andrizzi seven minutes from full time in the second leg.

Having already won the Copa Libertadores and Recopa Sudamericana, Internacional, with goals from Alex and Nilmar, became the first Brazilian team to win the cup, after a near-unbeaten campaign that includes eliminating their archrivals Grêmio, defeating Boca Juniors at the Bombonera, and then defeating Estudiantes in the final.[9] Internacional's only defeat came in the second leg as they were beaten 0-1 by Estudiantes before extra time took place. In a rematch of the 2008 final of the Copa Libertadores, LDU Quito defeated Fluminense in the finals of the 2009 edition. Just like in their previous triumph, los albos lifted the trophy in the legendary Estádio do Maracanã to earn their third international title in history (as well as their nations). LDU will defend the title in the 2010 competition.

Format

Qualification

Each national association is assigned a number of entries determined by CONMEBOL and the associations decide how to fill those slots. These can include: performance over the first semester of the year; best teams from previous season that did not qualify for the Copa Libertadores; a qualifying tournament previous to the competition, etc. The tournament itself is played in two-legged knockout stages. In addition, the defending champion receives a bye to the Round of 16. The champion of the Copa Sudamericana is guaranteed a spot in the following year's Copa Libertadores.

The competitors of the 2010 edition are going to be distributed as follows:

Tournament

The tournament starts in the first stage in which a number of clubs, currently 16, are paired in a series of two-legged knockout ties. The eight survivors join 22 clubs in the second stage, in which they are paired again in another series of two-legged knockout ties. The winner then progress to the round of 16, the first of four stage that work on a single elimination phases knockout system that culminates in the finals.

During each stage of the tournament, ties are decided on points, followed by goal difference, away goals, then a penalty shootout after full time of the second leg, if necessary. The exception is the finals, which uses two fifteen-minute extra periods instead of the away goals rule.

Top scorers by year

Year Player Club Goals
2002 Argentina Rodrigo Astudillo
Bolivia Gonzalo Galindo
Cameroon Pierre Webó 		Argentina San Lorenzo de Almagro
Bolivia Bolívar
Uruguay Nacional 		4
2003 Peru Germán Carty Peru Cienciano 6
2004 Argentina Horacio Chiorazzo Bolivia Bolívar 5
2005 Argentina Bruno Marioni Mexico UNAM 7
2006 Chile Humberto Suazo Chile Colo-Colo 10
2007 Colombia Ricardo Ciciliano Colombia Millonarios 6
2008 Brazil Alex
Brazil Nilmar 		Brazil Internacional
Brazil Internacional 		5
2009 Argentina Claudio Bieler Ecuador LDU Quito 8

Media coverage

a ^ TV Globo only air matches involving Brazilian sides.

See also

References

  1. ^ "SOUTH AMERICAN COMPETITIONS". rsssf.com. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
  2. ^ a b "Nissan South American Cup". conmebol.com. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
  3. ^ "SOUTH AMERICAN COMPETITIONS". rsssf.com. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
  4. ^ "Recopa Sudamerica". CONMEBOL. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
  5. ^ "Copa CONMEBOL". conmebol. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
  6. ^ "Copa Merconorte". conmebol. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
  7. ^ "Copa Mercosur". conmebol. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
  8. ^ "Copa Pan-Americana 2003". RSSSF. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
  9. ^ "¡Internacional brillante campeón de la Copa Nissan Sudamericana!" (in Spanish). conmebol. Retrieved December 4, 2008.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Copa_Sudamericana&oldid=365730035"