2016 Copa Libertadores

The 2016 Copa Libertadores de América (officially the 2016 Copa Bridgestone Libertadores for sponsorship reasons) was the 57th edition of the Copa Libertadores de América, South America's premier club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL.

In the finals, Colombian club Atlético Nacional defeated Ecuadorian club Independiente del Valle by an aggregate score of 2–1 to win their second tournament title in team history and qualify for the 2016 FIFA Club World Cup in Japan, their first appearance in the FIFA Club World Cup. They also earned the right to play against the winners of the 2016 Copa Sudamericana in the 2017 Recopa Sudamericana. They also automatically qualified for the 2017 Copa Libertadores group stage.

River Plate were the defending champions, but were eliminated by Independiente del Valle in the round of 16.

Teams

The following 38 teams from 11 associations (the 10 CONMEBOL members plus Mexico which were invited to compete) qualified for the tournament:

• Title holders
• Argentina and Brazil: 5 berths each
• All other associations: 3 berths each

The entry stage is determined as follows:

• Second stage: 26 teams (top four teams from Argentina and Brazil, and top two teams from all other associations)
• First stage: 12 teams (team with the lowest berth from each association, plus team with the second lowest berth from association of title holders)

Draw

The draw of the tournament was held on 22 December 2015, 20:30 PYST (UTC−3), at the CONMEBOL Convention Centre in Luque, Paraguay.

Starting from this season, teams were seeded by the newly established CONMEBOL ranking of the Copa Libertadores (except for teams from Mexico which were not ranked and thus seeded last in all draws), taking into account of the following three factors:

1. Performance in the last 10 years, taking into account Copa Libertadores results in the period 2006–2015
2. Historical coefficient, taking into account Copa Libertadores results in the period 1960–2005
3. Local tournament champion, with bonus points awarded to domestic league champions of the last 10 years

For the first stage, the 12 teams were drawn into six ties containing a team from Pot A and a team from Pot B, with the former hosting the second leg. The teams were seeded based on their CONMEBOL ranking (shown in parentheses). Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same tie.

For the second stage, the 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four containing a team from each of the four pots. The defending champions (River Plate) were automatically placed first in Pot 1 and allocated to Group 1 for the draw. The remaining teams were seeded based on their CONMEBOL ranking (shown in parentheses). Teams from the same association in Pots 1, 2 and 3 could not be drawn into the same group. Teams from Mexico were allocated to Pot 4, together with the winners of the first stage, whose identity was not known at the time of the draw, and they could be drawn into the same group with another team from the same association.

Schedule

The schedule of the competition is as follows (all dates listed are Wednesdays, but matches may be played on Tuesdays and Thursdays as well). There is a one-month break between the quarterfinals and semifinals due to the Copa América Centenario held in June.

Notes

First stage

In the first stage, each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. If tied on aggregate, the away goals rule would be used. If still tied, extra time would not be played, and the penalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winner (Regulations Article 5.2). The six winners of the first stage advanced to the second stage to join the 26 direct entrants.

Second stage

In the second stage, each group was played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, the following criteria would be used to determine the ranking: 1. Goal difference; 2. Goals scored; 3. Away goals scored; 4. Drawing of lots (Regulations Article 5.1). The winners and runners-up of each group advanced to the round of 16.

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Group 4

Group 5

Group 6

Group 7

Group 8

Final stages

In the final stages, the 16 teams played a single-elimination tournament, with the following rules:

• Each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis, with the higher-seeded team hosting the second leg (Regulations Article 3.4). However, CONMEBOL required that the second leg of the finals had to be played in South America, i.e., if there was a finalist from Mexico, they would have to host the first leg regardless of seeding (Regulations Article 3.7b).
• In the round of 16, quarterfinals, and semifinals, if tied on aggregate, the away goals rule would be used. If still tied, extra time would not be played, and the penalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winner (Regulations Article 5.2).
• In the finals, if tied on aggregate, the away goals rule would not be used, and 30 minutes of extra time would be played. If still tied after extra time, the penalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winner (Regulations Article 5.3).
• If there were two semifinalists from the same association, they would have to play each other (Regulations Article 3.6).

Seeding

The qualified teams were seeded in the final stages according to their results in the second stage, with the group winners seeded 1–8, and the group runners-up seeded 9–16.

Bracket

Round of 16

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Finals

The finals were played on a home-and-away two-legged basis, with the higher-seeded team hosting the second leg. If tied on aggregate, the away goals rule would not be used, and 30 minutes of extra time would be played. If still tied after extra time, the penalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winner.

Atlético Nacional won 2–1 on aggregate.

Statistics

Top goalscorers

Source: CONMEBOL.com

Top assists

Source: CONMEBOL.com

Prize money dispute

In January 2016, several clubs threatened to withdraw from the competition due a disagreement regarding prize money. CONMEBOL had offered a 40% increase on what was given in the 2015 edition but clubs wanted a 150% increase. On 2 February, CONMEBOL announced that the prize money paid to each club was doubled from the previous amount.

See also

• 2016 FIFA Club World Cup
• 2016 Copa Sudamericana
• 2017 Recopa Sudamericana

External links

• (in Spanish)
• , CONMEBOL.com (in Spanish)