The Copa Sudamericana

The Copa Sudamericana is roughly comparable to the UEFA Europa League — a continental tournament for clubs below the top-tier competition, alongside some clubs that drop down from the Copa Libertadores after early elimination. The competition gives clubs across South America a regular continental fixture and serves as a route back into the Copa Libertadores for sides that have not finished high enough in their domestic league to qualify directly.

The competition was launched in 2002, replacing earlier CONMEBOL secondary competitions that ran in the 1990s and early 2000s. It is contested by clubs from all ten CONMEBOL members and has produced champions from Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Chile, Peru and Mexico.

The main competition begins with a group stage of 32 clubs in eight groups of four. Each team plays the other three in its group both home and away. The eight group winners progress directly to the round of 16; the eight group runners-up enter a knockout play-off round against the eight third-placed teams that drop down from the Copa Libertadores group stage. The eight winners of those play-offs join the group winners in the round of 16.

From the round of 16 to the semi-finals, ties are played over two legs. If the aggregate score is level after the second leg, the tie is decided by penalties, without extra time. The final, like the Libertadores final, has been a single match at a neutral venue since 2019. If the final is level after 90 minutes, extra time and then penalties are used.

Before the group stage begins, a first stage of single-match ties is played between clubs from the eight CONMEBOL associations other than Argentina and Brazil. The matches are played at the home of the higher-seeded club. The winners of this stage join the directly qualified Argentine and Brazilian clubs, plus the clubs eliminated in the final qualifying phase of the Copa Libertadores, in the group stage.

This gives clubs from across the continent a route into the main competition while keeping the structure manageable. Argentina and Brazil receive direct group-stage places, while the rest of the field is made up of first-stage winners and the teams that drop down from the Libertadores qualifying rounds.

The Sudamericana follows the same broad calendar as the Libertadores. The first stage is played early in the year, the group stage usually runs through the middle of the first half of the season, the knockout play-off follows after the group stage, and the later knockout rounds lead towards a final late in the year.

Like the Libertadores, the competition fits the South American football calendar rather than the European one. Clubs often have to balance Sudamericana matches with domestic league, cup and travel demands across a long season.

The number of places each CONMEBOL country receives is set by the confederation. Argentina and Brazil receive the largest share, with the remaining places spread across the other eight members. Qualification is typically through finishing position in the previous year's domestic league — broadly, the places just below those that earn a Libertadores spot — plus a small number of cup-related places in countries that have a main domestic cup.

There are also two drop-down routes from the Copa Libertadores. Clubs eliminated in the final qualifying phase of the Libertadores enter the Sudamericana group stage, while the eight third-placed teams from the Libertadores groups enter the Sudamericana knockout play-off round. This gives Libertadores near-misses a second chance at continental silverware.

The winner of the Copa Sudamericana qualifies for the next season's Copa Libertadores group stage, regardless of their finishing position in their domestic league. This is the main sporting incentive in the competition, similar to how the Europa League winner earns a Champions League place in Europe.

The Sudamericana winner also plays the Copa Libertadores winner in the Recopa Sudamericana, South America's supercup, usually played early the following year over two legs. The Sudamericana winner has also been linked to the UEFA–CONMEBOL Club Challenge, a newer match concept between the Copa Sudamericana winner and the UEFA Europa League winner, although this is less established than the Recopa.

Before 2002, CONMEBOL ran several secondary club competitions in parallel — the Copa CONMEBOL in the 1990s, then the Copa Mercosur and Copa Merconorte that split the continent into two zones in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Those competitions struggled to find a consistent format, and CONMEBOL replaced them with a single unified secondary tournament in 2002. San Lorenzo of Argentina won the inaugural Copa Sudamericana.

Mexican and other CONCACAF clubs appeared as invited guests between 2005 and 2008, with Pachuca winning in 2006. The competition has since returned to a South-America-only field. The introduction of the group-stage format in 2017, and the move to a single-match final at a neutral venue in 2019, brought the competition into line with the modern Copa Libertadores format.

CONMEBOL's main women's club competition is the Copa Libertadores Femenina rather than a separate women's Sudamericana — there is no direct women's equivalent at the second tier. The same is true for junior-level competitions, which run as Copa Libertadores variants rather than as Sudamericana variants. The Sudamericana name is used only for the senior men's competition.