The 2022 U-20 Copa CONMEBOL Libertadores () was the 6th edition of the U-20 CONMEBOL Libertadores (also referred to as the U-20 Copa Libertadores), South America's premier under-20 club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. It was held in Ecuador from 5 to 20 February 2022.

The tournament was played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, except for the final matchday (third place match and final) which had a capacity of 50% allowed in the Estadio Rodrigo Paz Delgado.

Independiente del Valle were the defending champions having won the title in 2020. Peñarol won their first title after beating Independiente del Valle 4–3 on penalties after 1–1 draw in the final match. As winners of the 2022 U-20 Copa Libertadores, Peñarol earned the right to play against Benfica, the winners of the 2021–22 UEFA Youth League, in the 2022 Under-20 Intercontinental Cup which is a single leg match-up officially launched by CONMEBOL and UEFA on 2 June 2022.

Teams The competition will be contested by 12 teams: the title holders, the youth champions from each of the ten CONMEBOL member associations, and one additional team from the host association.

AssociationTeamQualifying methodParticipationPrevious best resultNewell's Old Boys2021 Cuarta División (U-20) champions1st —Blooming2021 U-20 Copa Libertadores qualification championship champions2nd Group stage (2012)Internacional2021 U-20 Supercopa do Brasil champions1st —Universidad de Concepción2021 U-21 Campeonato Fútbol Joven champions1st —Millonarios2019 U-20 Súper Copa Juvenil champions3rd Group stage (2011, 2020) (hosts)Independiente del Valle 2020 U-20 Copa Libertadores champions 6th Champions (2020)LDU Quito 2021 U-18 Serie A champions1st —Orense 2021 U-18 Serie A third place1st — Guaraní2021 U-19 Clausura champions 1st —Sporting Cristal2021 U-18 Copa Generación champions3rd Group stage (2012, 2020)Peñarol2021 U-19 Torneo Especial champions1st —Caracas2021 Liga FUTVE Junior champions2nd Group stage (2011)

Venues QuitoEstadio Olímpico AtahualpaEstadio Banco GuayaquilEstadio Rodrigo Paz DelgadoCapacity: 35,258Capacity: 12,000Capacity: 41,575

Ecuador was named as host country of the tournament at the CONMEBOL Council meeting held on 27 October 2021. The Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa hosted the matches of groups B and C while the Estadio Banco Guayaquil, owned by Independiente del Valle, hosted the group A matches and the semi-finals. On 19 February 2022, the Estadio Rodrigo Paz Delgado, owned by LDU Quito, was included as venue of the third place match and the final that had originally been scheduled at the Estadio Banco Guayaquil. All venues are located in Quito.

Draw The draw was held on 20 December 2021, 13:30 PYST (UTC−3), at the CONMEBOL Convention Centre in Luque, Paraguay. The draw was conducted according to the following guidelines:

The defending champions Independiente del Valle were automatically assigned to position A1 in the group stage. The remaining 11 teams were seeded into four pots; one of two teams and three of three teams, based on the final placement of their national association's club in the previous edition of the tournament, and drawn into three groups of four. The teams from the two best associations (Ecuador and Argentina) were seeded into Pot 1 and drawn to position B1 or C1 in the group stage. The first team drawn was placed into Group B, the second team drawn placed into Group C The teams from the next three associations (Brazil, Paraguay and Venezuela) were seeded into Pot 2 and drawn to position A2, B2 or C2 in the group stage. The teams from the next three associations (Chile, Uruguay, and Peru) were seeded into Pot 3 and drawn to position A3, B3 or C3 in the group stage. The teams from the last two associations (Colombia and Bolivia) and the additional team from the host association (Ecuador) were seeded into Pot 4 and drawn to position A4, B4 or C4 in the group stage. From pots 2, 3 and 4, the first team drawn was placed into Group A, the second team drawn placed into Group B and the final team drawn placed into Group C. Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group.

Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4

The draw resulted in the following groups:

+ Group ATeamA1 Independiente del ValleA2 CaracasA3 Sporting CristalA4 Blooming+ Group B TeamB1 LDU QuitoB2 InternacionalB3 PeñarolB4 Millonarios+ Group C TeamC1 Newell's Old BoysC2 GuaraníC3 Universidad de ConcepciónC4 Orense

Match officials On 28 December 2021, CONMEBOL informed to its member associations the referees appointed for the tournament. Assistant referee Guilherme Dias Camilo was replaced by Bruno Boschilia, both from Brazil.

Nicolás Lamolina Assistants: José Miguel Savorani and Sebastián Raineri Dilio Rodríguez Assistants: Carlos Tapia and Rubén Flores Flavio de Souza Assistants: Rafael Alves and Bruno Boschilia Cristian Garay Assistants: Miguel Rocha and Juan Serrano Carlos Ortega Assistants: Miguel Roldán and David Fuentes

Marlon Vera Assistants: David Vacacela and Edison Vásquez Carlos Paul Benítez Assistants: Luis Onieva and José Villagra Augusto Menéndez Assistants: Enrique Pinto and Leonar Soto Gustavo Tejera Assistants: Pablo Llarena and Andrés Nievas Yender Herrera Assistants: Yackson Díaz and Antoni García

Support Referees

Jhon Hinestroza

Edwin Ordóñez

Squads Players born on or after 1 January 2002 were eligible to compete. Each team could register a maximum of 20 and a minimum of 16 players, two of whom should have been goalkeepers (Regulations Article 31).

Group stage The winners of each group and the best runner-up among all groups will advance to the semi-finals.

Tiebreakers In the group stage, the teams will be ranked according to points earned (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers will be applied in the following order (Regulations Article 20): Goal difference; Goals scored; Head-to-head result in games between tied teams; Fewest number of red cards received; Fewest number of yellow cards received; Drawing of lots.

All match times are in ECT (UTC−5), as listed by CONMEBOL.

Group A

Group B

Group C

Ranking of group runners-up

Final stage The final stage consisted of the semi-finals, the third place match and the final. The semi-final matchups will be: Group A winner vs. Group C winner Group B winner vs. Best runner-up

The semi-final winners and losers played in the final and third place match respectively. If a game was tied after full time, extra time would not be played, and a penalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winner (Regulations Article 23).

The final matchday, which consisted of the third place match and the final, was moved from Estadio Banco Guayaquil to Estadio Rodrigo Paz Delgado due to the original venue's field was damaged as a result of the heavy rains that occurred in Quito.

All match times are in ECT (UTC−5), as listed by CONMEBOL.

Bracket

Semi-finals

Third place match

Final

Statistics

Top goalscorers RankPlayerTeamGoals1 Saúl Guarirapa Caracas4 Francisco Sagardia Independiente del Valle2 Milciades Adorno Guaraní3 Óscar José Cruz Peñarol3 Neicer Acosta Independiente del Valle2 Máximo Alonso Peñarol Romeo Benítez Guaraní Maikel Caicedo Independiente del Valle Joao Grimaldo Sporting Cristal Adrián Mejía Independiente del Valle Gilmar Paredes Sporting Cristal Marlon Perea Sporting Cristal Bryan Quiñónez Orense Matías Segovia Guaraní Manuel Sulbarán Caracas Anthony Valencia Independiente del Valle

Final ranking As per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time were counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-out were counted as draws.

References

External links CONMEBOL Libertadores Sub 20 Ecuador 2022, CONMEBOL.com