The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América (), and most commonly shortened to Copa Libertadores, is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournament is named after the Libertadores (Spanish and Portuguese for "liberators"), the leaders of the Spanish American wars of independence and Brazilian independence, so a literal translation of its former name into English is "Liberators Cup".
The competition has had several formats over its lifetime. Initially, only the champions of the South American leagues participated. In 1966, the runners-up of the South American leagues began to join. In 1998, Mexican teams were invited to compete and competed regularly from 2000 until 2016. In 2000, the tournament was expanded from 20 to 32 teams. Today at least four clubs per country compete in the tournament, with Argentina and Brazil having the most representatives (six and seven clubs, respectively). A group stage has always been used but the number of teams per group has varied.
In the present format, the tournament consists of eight stages, with the first stage taking place in late January. The four surviving teams from the first three stages join 28 teams in the group stage, which consists of eight groups of four teams each. The eight group winners and eight runners-up enter the knockout stages, which end with the final in November. The winner of the Copa Libertadores becomes eligible to play in the FIFA Club World Cup, FIFA Intercontinental Cup and the Recopa Sudamericana.
Independiente of Argentina is the most successful club in the cup's history, having won the tournament seven times. Argentine and Brazilian clubs have accumulated the most victories with 25 wins each, while Brazil has the largest number of winning teams, with 12 clubs winning the title. The cup has been won by 27 clubs; 15 of them have won it more than once, and seven clubs have won two years in a row. Brazilian clubs currently hold a record-breaking winning streak (seven Copa Libertadores in a row, starting in 2019).
History + List of winners Season Winners Copa Libertadores 1960 Peñarol 1961 Peñarol 1962 Santos 1963 Santos 1964 Independiente 1965 Independiente 1966 Peñarol 1967 Racing 1968 Estudiantes 1969 Estudiantes 1970 Estudiantes 1971 Nacional 1972 Independiente 1973 Independiente 1974 Independiente 1975 Independiente 1976 Cruzeiro 1977 Boca Juniors 1978 Boca Juniors 1979 Olimpia 1980 Nacional 1981 Flamengo 1982 Peñarol 1983 Grêmio 1984 Independiente 1985 Argentinos Juniors 1986 River Plate 1987 Peñarol 1988 Nacional 1989 Atlético Nacional 1990 Olimpia 1991 Colo-Colo 1992 São Paulo FC 1993 São Paulo FC 1994 Vélez Sarsfield 1995 Grêmio 1996 River Plate 1997 Cruzeiro 1998 Vasco da Gama 1999 Palmeiras 2000 Boca Juniors 2001 Boca Juniors 2002 Olimpia 2003 Boca Juniors 2004 Once Caldas 2005 São Paulo FC 2006 Internacional 2007 Boca Juniors 2008 LDU Quito 2009 Estudiantes 2010 Internacional 2011 Santos 2012 Corinthians 2013 Atlético Mineiro 2014 San Lorenzo 2015 River Plate 2016 Atlético Nacional 2017 Grêmio 2018 River Plate 2019 Flamengo 2020 Palmeiras 2021 Palmeiras 2022 Flamengo 2023 Fluminense 2024 Botafogo 2025 Flamengo
The clashes for the Copa Aldao between the champions of Argentina and Uruguay kindled the idea of continental competition in the 1930s. In 1948, the South American Championship of Champions (), the most direct precursor to the Copa Libertadores, was played and organized by the Chilean club Colo-Colo after years of planning and organization. Held in Santiago, it brought together the champions of each nation's top national leagues. The tournament was won by Vasco da Gama of Brazil.La Nación; Historia del Fútbol Chileno, 1985 The 1948 South American tournament began, in continent-wide reach, the "champions cup" model, resulting in the creation of the European Cup in 1955, as confirmed by Jacques Ferran (one of the "founding fathers" of the European Cup), in a 2015 interview with a Brazilian TV sports programme. The connection between the 1948 competition and the Copa Libertadores was recognised by Conmebol with the participation of Vasco da Gama in the 1997 Supercopa Libertadores, a Conmebol competition that accepted the participation of Copa Libertadores winners only, and the 1948 championship is referred to at the Conmebol website as the competition that, 12 years later, would become the Copa Libertadores.
In 1958, the basis and format of the competition were created by Peñarol's board leaders. On October 8, 1958, João Havelange announced, at a UEFA meeting he attended as an invitee, the creation of Copa de Campeones de America (American Champions Cup, renamed in 1965 as Copa Libertadores), as a South American equivalent of the European Cup, so that the champion clubs of both continental confederations could decide "the best club team of the world" in the Intercontinental Cup. On March 5, 1959, at the 24th South American Congress held in Buenos Aires, the competition was ratified by the International Affairs Committee. In 1965, it was named in honor of the heroes of South American liberation, such as Simón Bolívar, José de San Martín, Pedro I, Bernardo O'Higgins, and José Gervasio Artigas, among others.
Format Qualification Most teams qualify for the Copa Libertadores by winning half-year tournaments called the Apertura and Clausura tournaments or by finishing among the top teams in their championship. The countries that use this format are Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. Peru and Ecuador have developed new formats for qualification to the Copa Libertadores involving several stages. Argentina, Brazil and Chile are the only South American leagues to use a European league format instead of the Apertura and Clausura format. However, one berth for the Copa Libertadores can be won by winning the domestic cups in these countries.
Peru, Uruguay and Mexico formerly used a second tournament to decide qualification for the Libertadores (the "Liguilla Pre-Libertadores" between 1992 and 1997, the "Liguilla Pre-Libertadores de América" from 1974 to 2009, and the InterLiga from 2004 to 2010, respectively). Argentina used an analogous method only once in 1992. Since 2011, the winner of the Copa Sudamericana has qualified automatically for the following Copa Libertadores.
For the 2019 edition, the different stages of the competition were contested by the following teams:
+Distribution of clubs in the Copa LibertadoresFirst stageBolivia Runners-up of Torneo Apertura Ecuador Winner Copa Ecuador Paraguay Second-best non-champion Primera División season aggregate
Peru Fourth-placed team of Liga 1 Uruguay Second-best Primera División season aggregate Venezuela Second-best Primera División season aggregateSecond stage3 first stage winners Argentina Fourth-placed team of Liga Profesional de Fútbol Bolivia Runners-up of Torneo Clausura Brazil Fifth-placed team of Campeonato Brasileiro Série A Sixth-placed team of Campeonato Brasileiro Série A Chile Third-placed team of Chilean Primera División Champions of Copa Chile
Colombia Best non-champion Primera A season aggregate Champions of Copa Colombia Ecuador Best Serie A season aggregate Paraguay Best non-champion Primera División season aggregate Peru Third-placed team of Liga 1 Uruguay Best Primera División season aggregate Venezuela Best Primera División season aggregateThird stage8 second stage winnersGroup stageDefending champions Winners of the Copa Sudamericana 4 third stage winners Argentina Champions of Liga Profesional de Fútbol Champions of Copa Argentina Champions of Copa de la Liga Runners-up of Liga Profesional de Fútbol Third-placed team of Liga Profesional de Fútbol Bolivia Champions of Torneo Apertura Champions of Torneo Clausura Brazil Champions of Campeonato Brasileiro Série A Champions of Copa do Brasil Runners-up of Campeonato Brasileiro Série A Third-placed team of Campeonato Brasileiro Série A Fourth-placed team of Campeonato Brasileiro Série A Chile Champions of Chilean Primera División Runners-up of Chilean Primera División
Colombia Champions of Torneo Apertura Champions of Torneo Finalización Ecuador Champions of Serie A Runners-up of Serie A Paraguay Best Primera División champion season aggregate Second-best Primera División champion season aggregate Peru Champions of Liga 1 Runners-up of Liga 1 Uruguay Champions of Primera División Runners-up of Primera División Venezuela Champions of Primera División Serie Final Runners-up of Primera División Serie FinalFinal stages8 group winners
8 group runners-up
Country First Stage Second Stage Group Stage Brazil 2 5 Argentina 1 5 Chile 2 2 Colombia 2 2 Bolivia 1 1 2 Ecuador 1 1 2 Paraguay 1 1 2 Peru 1 1 2 Uruguay 1 1 2 Venezuela 1 1 2
The winners of the previous season's Copa Libertadores are given an additional entry to the group stage even if they do not qualify for the tournament through their domestic performance; however, if the title holders qualify for the tournament through their domestic performance, an additional entry is granted to the next eligible team, "replacing" the titleholder.
Rules
Unlike most other football competitions around the world, the Copa Libertadores historically did not use extra time, or away goals. From 1960 to 1987, two-legged ties were decided on points (teams would be awarded 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for a loss), without considering goal differences. If both teams were level on points after two legs, a third match would be played at a neutral venue. Goal difference would only come into play if the third match was drawn. If the third match did not produce an outright winner, a penalty shootout was used to determine a winner.
From 1988 onwards, two-legged ties were decided on points, followed by goal difference, with an immediate penalty shootout if the tie was level on aggregate after full-time in the second leg. Starting with the 2005 season, CONMEBOL began to use the away goals rule. In 2008, the finals became an exception to the away goals rule and employed extra time. From 1995 onwards, the "Three points for a win" standard, a system adopted by FIFA in 1995 that places additional value on wins, was adopted in CONMEBOL, with teams now earning 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for a loss.
Tournament The current tournament features 47 clubs competing over a six- to eight-month period. There are three stages: the first, the second and the knockout stage.
The first stage involves 12 clubs in a series of two-legged knockout ties. The six survivors join 26 clubs in the second stage, in which they are divided into eight groups of four. The teams in each group play in a double round-robin format, with each team playing home and away games against every other team in their group. The top two teams from each group are then drawn into the knockout stage, which consists of two-legged knockout ties. From that point, the competition proceeds with two-legged knockout ties to quarterfinals, semifinals, and the finals. Between 1960 and 1987 the previous winners did not enter the competition until the semifinal stage, making it much easier to retain the cup.