Copa Sudamericana Explained (Sort of)

By: Daryl | October 23rd, 2008

It was the first leg of the Copa Sudamericana quarterfinals last night, and we have all the goals/match reports on Copa Sudamericana Offside.

You’ve probably heard the Copa Sud referred to as “South America’s UEFA Cup.” That’s sort of true, but also sort of wrong.

Below is an explanation from someone who only recently tried to get his head around the Copa Sudamericana, so hopefully it will be useful to my fellow Copa Sud newbies. And if anyone out there is more familiar, feel free to correct anything I get wrong (but please be gentle.)

The Copa Sudamericana is definitely a distant second to the Copa Libertadores, just as the UEFA Cup must bow to the Champions League. But the relationship is completely different, because qualifying for one doesn’t mean you can’t play in the other.

Here’s why: The Copa Lib is played in the early months (January to June) and the Copa Sud is played in the later months (July to December) so there’s nothing to stop teams from playing in both tournaments.

The very well established heirarchy of Libertadores>Sudamericana is more a case of tradition than anything else:

The Libertadores dates back to 1960 and so has plenty of tradition, making it the tournament to win. The Sudamericana dates back to 2002 and has almost no tradition. In some ways it’s just the latest in a series of secondary South American tournaments.

Brief history: In 1992 the Copa CONMEBOL was introduced, which was more like the UEFA Cup in that it was specifically for teams that didn’t qualify for the Libertadores. But it only lasted until 1999, dying a death when the Copa Lib was expanded to 32 teams.

The Copa Mercosur (for clubs from Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Chile) and Copa Merconorte (for clubs other South American countries, plus some CONCACAF) briefly filled the gap before being merged and reconstituted as the Copa Sudamericana in 2002.

The Sudamericana is now six years old, and still having some problems. It’s basically caught between trying to be a legitimate tournament and trying to gain a mass audience.

Perfect example: River Plate and Boca Juniors get a free pass to the later rounds because they bring in TV viewers. But the integrity of the competition is massively undermined by such favouritism. And because the Sudamericana’s integrity and reputation is less then 100%, teams like River often field second string teams.

That in mind, a more realistic analogy for Copa Sudamerica than Champions League/UEFA Cup might be to say that if the Copa Libertadores is the English FA Cup, then the Copa Sudamericana is the English Carling Cup.

I’d be fascinated to hear from anyone who knows a bit more about this. Is the Copa Sudamericana here to stay? And what – if anything – could the Copa Sudamericana do to improve its reputation?