Copa Libertadores – scores, schedule, and standings (ESPN Soccernet).
First Stage – 2012 Copa Libertadores preliminary round matches begin on 24 and 25 January; second-leg matches from 31 Jan. to 2 Feb.
The 32-team Second Stage – The 8 4-team groups begin their 6-games-per-team schedules on 8 February, ‘2012 Copa Libertadores/schedule’ (en.wikipedia.org).
The 2012 Copa Libertadotes is the 53rd edition of South America’s most prestigious professional football competition. 2011 winners were Santos FC of Brazil, who, led by the young footballing wizard Neymar, defeated Peñarol (of Uruguay) 2-1 in aggregate to claim their third Copa Libertadores title, and the club’s first since 1963, when the club featured Pelé.
The competetion, run by CONMEBOL, features qualifying clubs from the 10 South American nations under CONMEBOL’s jurisdiction, plus, since 1998, clubs from Mexico (despite the fact that Mexican football is under the jurisdiction of CONCACAF). 9 of the 11 countries involved are allotted 3 qualifying spots, while Argentina and Brazil get 5 spots. The Holder gets an automatic spot, so Brazil has 6 spots in this tournament. The football associations of each country involved have different criteria for awarding their Copa Libertadores spots, and you can see those details here {‘Copa Libertadores/Format/Qualification’ (en.wikipedia.org)}. In general terms, each country’s most recent champion or champions will qualify, plus the best-placed non-champions. In Brazil’s case, the 5 qualifiers are first place through 4th place in the previous year’s Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (Corinthians were champions in 2011), plus the current Copa do Brasil winner (Vasco da Gama were the cup winners in 2011). In Argentina’s case, the qualifiers are the previous year’s Clausura champion (Vélez Sarsfield won it in May, 2011), the previous year’s Apertura champion (Boca Juniors won it in December, 2011), and the next best-placed non-qualifiers via aggregate of the previous Clausura season and Apertura season (Lanús and Godoy Cruz qualified this way); plus the Copa Sudamericana spot. Arsenal de Sarandí qualified this way, as best performance [Semifinalist] in the 2011 Copa Sudamericana not already qualified. Since 2010, the Argentine Football Association has had the winner, or best-placed non-qualified Argentine team, from the Copa Sudamericana also get into the next year’s Copa Libertadores, as the 5th-seeded Argentine team. [The Copa Sudamericana is analogous to the UEFA Europa League tournament in Europe, and features clubs who won national cups or who placed in the 2nd-to-14th-place range in their respective leagues].
The current format, which has been in place since 2005, has 38 teams in it, but 12 of those teams must play in a preliminary round (involving a two-legged tie), called the First Stage, in order to get to the 32-team group stage, which is called the Second Stage. The Second Stage is comprised of 8 groups of 4, and the top 2 in each group advances to the Round of 16.
On the map page, a list of the match-ups for the First Stage (aka preliminary round) is just below the top banner, at the upper right-hand corner. Or you can see the matchups at this link…’2012 Copa Libertadores/First Stage‘.
The map page features a location-map of the 38 clubs, and profiles boxes for the clubs arranged by country. Each club’s profile box features…the club’s crest and home kit; their stadium(s) and location; how the club qualified for the tournament; the club’s total national professional titles (and the year of their most recent title); the club’s total Copa Libertadores appearances (and how the club fared in their most recent Copa Libertadores appearanace); and the club’s Copa Libertadores titles (and the year of most recent title).
After the First Stage is completed, I will post another map of the 32-team Second Stage.
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‘Records and statistics of the Copa Libertadores/by club‘ (en.wikipedia.org).
Below is a chart I put together which lists the 38 qualified clubs by all-time Copa Liberrtadores appearances. Copa Libertadores titles are listed at the far left.
(You can click on the image below to get the chart on a separate page.)
Thanks to FootieMap.com, for finding stadium-locations of various clubs, http://www.footiemap.com/.
Thanks to RSSSF – I used this list for all-time Copa Libertadores appearances chart, ‘Copa Libertadores 1960-2010 Club Histories’ at rsssf.com .
Thanks to the contributors to the pages at en.wikipedia.org, ‘2012 Copa Libertadores‘.
