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2017 Copa Libertadores map of the 44 teams in the 2nd Stage (16 teams) & Group Stage (28 teams)

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Links…
2017 Copa Libertadores (en.wikipedia.org).
-2017 Copa Libertadores, fixtures, results, tables…2017 COPA LIBERTADORES [Summary].
-Copa Libertadores news (in English)…espnfc.us/copa-libertadores/index

By Bill Turianski on 30 January 2017; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.com.

2017 Copa Libertadores (the 58th version of the tournament)…

As, usual profile-boxes for the qualified teams are shown, grouped by country, flanking each side of the map. But with the drastic format changes this year, I have decided to have the map depict the set-up after the new First Stage. So…
A). the results from late January 2017 of the new First Stage are seen at the top-left of the map-page. The new First Stage is basically just a small pre-qualifying round. So of the 6 teams in the First Stage, only the 3 winners are shown in profile-boxes (also at the top-left, plus also grouped with their countries within the main part of the map page).
B). teams that qualified for the Second Stage and the Group Stage can seen within the whole rest of the map page (44 teams).
C). The Cup-Holders (Atlético Nacional of Colombia) can seen at the top-right of the map page, as well as seen in the illustration below.
D). Format changes to the tournament – all of them (!), see article further below.
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2016 Copa Libertadores champions: Atlético Nacional, of Medellín, Colombia (their 2nd CL title)…

-From WorldSoccer.com from 1 August 2016, Tim Vickery’s Notes from South America: Reflections on Atletico Nacional’s Libertadores triumph (worldsoccer.com).

Photo and Image credits above –
Screenshot (1) from Atlético Nacional vs Independiente del Valle 1-0 RESUMEN Y GOL FINAL Copa Libertadores 2016 (uploaded by Futbol TOTAL at youtube.com). Shot of crowd’s tifo in Medellin during 2nd leg of Finals, photo by AP via dailymail.co.uk/football/Atletico-Nacional-1-0-2-1-agg-Independiente-del-Valle-Miguel-Borja-strike-seals-Copa-Libertadores-win. Screenshot (2) from Atlético Nacional vs Independiente del Valle 1-0 RESUMEN Y GOL FINAL Copa Libertadores 2016 (uploaded by Futbol TOTAL at youtube.com). Miguel Borja scoring winning goal, photo by Reuters via sport.net/atletico-nacional-1-0-independiente-del-valle-2-1-agg-miguel-borja-strike-seals-copa-libertadores-win. Teammates celebrate right after Borja goal, photo by AFP via losandes.com.ar/article/atletico-nacional-e-independiente-del-valle-definen-la-libertadores-y-van-por-la-gloria. Shot of coach Rueda with trophy, photo by León Darío Peláez/SEMANA at semana.com/deportes/articulo/reinaldo-rueda-el-cerebro-detras-de-la-gesta-de-nacional s. Miguel Borja kissing the trophy, photo by AFP via fifa.com. Atletico Nacional fans celebrate their Copa Libertadores victory with pyrotechnics, photo unattributed at a.espncdn.com/combiner.

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2017 Copa Libertadores: the new expanded format forces Mexico to leave the tournament/ Then the Chapecoense tragedy in Colombia sees CONMEBOL automatically award Chapecoense the 2016 Copa Sudamericana title & automatic qualification for the 2017 Copa Liberetadores

There were two very big changes to the Copa Libertadores format for 2017, which are both discussed below; plus the Chapecoense jet disaster (see further below).

First, in October 2016 CONMEBOL radically expanded the format (going from 38 teams to 44 teams, and with the tournament being played over an eleven-month time period).
{See this, CONMEBOL expands Copa Libertadores to 42 weeks and 44 teams (espnfc.com).} This forced the Mexican 1st division, Liga MX, to re-examine their continued participation in the tournament. (Mexican teams had participated in the Copa Libertadores since the 1998 tournament.) It looks like Liga MX and the FMF (the Mexican football authorities) were not consulted on these changes. It actually appears that CONMEBOL went ahead and made all these drastic changes to the Copa Libertadores format without consulting with most of parties involved – at all – including Liga MX {see 7th paragraph from this article by Tim Vickery at espnfc.com, Copa Libertadores gets new lease of life for 2017, but questions remain (by Tim Vickery at espnfc.com from 19 Dec. 2016).}

So in November 2016, the 1st division of Mexico (Liga MX) decided to no longer send its teams to play in the Copa Libertadores…
The expanded schedule, with basically an 80%-of-the-whole-year tournament, combined with the enormous travel distances that Mexican teams already face, made Liga MX decide to opt out of the tournament. Mexican teams might re-join the tournament in 2018, though, but Liga MX would need to alter its own format to do that. {See this, Mexico officially pulls out of Copa Libertadores (goal.com).}

So, for 2017 at least, that meant that there were now three vacated spots in the tournament…
Mexico’s 3 vacated tournament-spots made it necessary to even further expand the tournament (to be more equitable, as with regards to which of the 10 remaining Copa Libertadores countries got one of Mexico’s spots). So another round was added. CONMEBOL simply divided the 3 spots up amongst the 6 CL countries which had not gotten any added spots in the upcoming format-expansion (Uruguay, Paraguay, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Venezuela). So the 3 Mexico spots were paired up with 3 more added-spots (swelling the tournament to 47 teams), into a sort of pre-qualifying round – the First Stage. (The results of the new/pre-qualifying First Stage are seen in the Mexico section at the top-left-hand side of the map page.)

Below are all the changes in the Copa Libertadores for 2017…
•Expanded format (44 teams):
6 more spots, re-apportioned as such:
∙Brazil: +2 spots (Brazil now has 7 teams in each Copa Libertadores tournament).
∙Argentina: +1 spot (Argentina now has 6 teams in each CL tournament).
∙Colombia: +1 spot (Colombia now has 4 teams in each CL tournament).
∙Chile: +1 spot (Chile now has 4 teams in each CL tournament).
∙Copa Sudamericana winner: the CS winner gets automatic entry into Group Stage as before, but that spot does not bump out the lowest-placed CL-qualifying spot from that country (ie, CS-winner adds 1 more spot for that country for that CL season [as so: Brazil 7 spots+1 more spot this season via CS-winner, Chapacoense {see further below}]).
∙Uruguay, Paraguay, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, and Bolivia: unchanged (all still with 3 teams in each tournament – that is, until Mexico pulled out/see below).

•About 1 month later…Further expanded format, with 3 more spots added (47 teams).
Mexican teams’ 3 vacated spots + 3 more spots added (in the new First Stage), to make the tournament 47 teams:
∙The 3 spots were determined by adding 1 team each from the 6 countries which did not get an extra spot in the initial tournament-expansion (those 6 countries are: Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela). Those six teams are then matched up into two-legged play-offs (the new First Stage), with the three winners advancing.

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Chapecoense jet disaster…
On 28 November 2016, the airplane carrying Brazilian team Chapecoense, to their 2016 Copa Sudamericana Finals match versus Atlético Nacional, crashed into a hillside near Medellín, Colombia, with 71 of the 77 aboard killed, including 19 Chapecoense players (almost the entire Chapcoense 1st team squad died). As it says at the 2016 Copa Sudamericana page at Wikipedia, “The finals have been suspended due to the crash of LaMia Airlines Flight 2933. CONMEBOL immediately suspended all activities, including the scheduled finals matches. In light of these events, Atlético Nacional requested that CONMEBOL award the title to Chapecoense.” Three days later Globo Sports in Brazil reported this, Conmebol will declare Chapecoense champion of the Copa Sudamericana (from globoesporte.globo.com/sc/futebol). So that meant, as Copa Sudamericana title-winners, Chapecoense would qualify for the Group Stage of the 2017 Copa Libertadores.
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Thanks to all at the following links…
-2016 Copa Libertadores/Teams (en.wikipedia.org).
-Copa Libertadores (1960-2016) Club Histories…Copa Libertadores 1960-2016 Club Histories (rsssf.com).
-Argentine titles (professional Argentine titles): http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primera_Divisi%C3%B3n_de_Argentina#Resumen_estad.C3.ADstico_2.
-New logo for tournament, conmebol.com/es/la-conmebol-presento-el-nuevo-logo-de-la-copa-libertadores-de-america.