Copa Sudamericana

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The Copa Sudamericana (also known as Copa Nissan Sudamericana) (English: South American Cup, Portuguese: Copa Sul-Americana) is an international football cup competition played annually by clubs of CONMEBOL and, since 2005, from CONCACAF. It is the second most important competition for South American club teams, the first being the Copa Libertadores. It is comparable to the UEFA Cup in European club soccer competiton, with the exception that some teams can play in this tournament and the Copa Libertadores, thus the level of both tournaments is closely matched.

According to this information, we can say that the cup is an equivalent of the defunct Copa Conmebol, and a continuation of that cup.

The winner plays versus the Copa Libertadores' champion for the Recopa Sudamericana.

1 History
2 Format
3 List of Champions
4 Cups by Team
5 Cups by Country
6 Top Scorers by Year
7 External links

[edit] History

After the Copa Conmebol first, and the Copa Merconorte and the Copa Mercosur were discontinued, a Pan-American club cup competition was intended, under the name of Copa Pan-Americana, but instead, a South American clubs only tournament was created.

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. Also, Brazilian teams participated for the first time, after refusing to play in the first edition due to scheduling conflicts with the Campeonato Brasileiro.

In 2005, D.C. United of Major League Soccer and Club América and UNAM from Mexico accepted invitations to play in the tournament. The only South American club competition in which teams from the United States had played before was the rather minor Copa Merconorte, while Mexican teams had already participated in the Copa Libertadores for several years.

[edit] Format

Each national association is assigned a number of entries, usually determined by its league's strength, and decides on its own selection criteria to fill those spots. These can include: direct invitation; performance over the first semester of the year; best teams from previous season that did not qualify for the Copa Libertadores (similar to UEFA Cup entries); a qualifying tournament previous to the competition, etc.

The tournament itself is played in two-legged knockout stages (there have also been cases of 3-team groups, with each team playing one home and one away game). In the first rounds of the competition the teams from the same country play against each other.

[edit] List of Champions

Year	Final
Year	Winner	Scores	Runner-Up
2002 Details	San Lorenzo (ARG)	4 - 0 0 - 0 Agg: 4 - 0	Atlético Nacional (COL)
2003 Details	Cienciano (PER)	3 - 3 1 - 0 Agg: 4 - 3	River Plate (ARG)
2004 Details	Boca Juniors (ARG)	0 - 1 2 - 0 Agg: 2 - 1	Bolívar (BOL)
2005 Details	Boca Juniors (ARG)	1 - 1 1 - 1 Agg: 2 - 2 (ps: 4 - 3)	UNAM Pumas (MEX)
2006 Details	CF Pachuca (MEX) - Colo-Colo (CHI) Finals scheduled for November 30 and December 13.

[edit] Cups by Team

Boca Juniors ( Argentina) - 2 titles
Cienciano ( Peru) - 1 title
San Lorenzo ( Argentina) - 1 title

[edit] Cups by Country

Argentina 3 times
Peru 1 time

[edit] Top Scorers by Year

Year	Player	Club	Goals
2002	Rodrigo Astudillo Gonzalo Galindo Pierre Webo	San Lorenzo de Almagro Bolívar Nacional	4
2003	Germán Carty	Cienciano	4
2004	Horacio Chiorazzo	Bolívar	5
2005	Bruno Marioni	UNAM Pumas	7