Copa Sudamericana - History

History

See also: List of Copa Sudamericana winners, Supercopa Sudamericana, Copa CONMEBOL, Copa Mercosur, and Copa Merconorte

In 1992, the Copa CONMEBOL was an international football tournament created for South American clubs that did not qualify for the Copa Libertadores and Supercopa Sudamericana. This tournament was discontinued in 1999 and replaced by the Copa Merconorte and Copa Mercosur. These tournaments started in 1998 but were discontinued in 2001. A Pan-American club cup competition was intended, under the name of Copa Pan-Americana, but instead, the Copa Sudamericana was introduced in 2002 as a single-elimination tournament with the reigning Copa Mercosur champion, San Lorenzo. Brazilian clubs did not participate in the 2002 edition due to many conflicting, organizational issues and scheduling conflicts with the Campeonato Brasileiro. San Lorenzo would go on to become the first ever winners of the competition after thrashing Atlético Nacional 4-0 on aggregate.

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 at the time. Also, Brazilian teams participated for the first time.

The 2003 tournament was swept through by the surprising Cienciano as Germán Carty's goals took los imperiales to the first international title won by a Peruvian club. In the finals, Cienciano managed to hold the powerful River Plate 3-3 in Buenos Aires and managed to come up on top 1-0 on national soil to claim the spoils. After a disappointing 2004 season, Boca Juniors managed to regain some composure as they won the trophy consecutively in 2004 and 2005 defeating Club Bolívar and Pumas de la UNAM, respectively. After the failures of UNAM and Cruz Azul in the 2001 season of the Copa Libertadores, Mexican football finally managed to inscribe themselves in the list of winners of South American club football as Pachuca defeated Colo-Colo, led by two magnificent figures such Matías Fernández and Humberto Suazo. In a highly-charged atmoshere in Santiago's Estadio Nacional, Suazo brought the home team one up on the scoreboard but two second half goals from Damián Álvarez and Christian Giménez sealed the victory for a highly-spirited team. Their compatriots, Club América, tried to emulate their success but las águilas fell short on the 2007 final as Arsenal won the title thanks to a late and inspirational strike by Martín Andrizzi seven minutes from full time in the second leg.

Having already won the Copa Libertadores and Recopa Sudamericana, Internacional, with goals from Alex and Nilmar, became the first Brazilian team to win the cup, after an unbeaten campaign that includes eliminating their archrivals Grêmio, defeating Boca Juniors at the Bombonera, and then defeating Estudiantes in the final. In a rematch of the 2008 final of the Copa Libertadores, LDU Quito defeated Fluminense in the finals of the 2009 edition. Just like in their previous triumph, los albos lifted the trophy in the legendary Estádio do Maracanã to earn their third international title in history (as well as their nations). Argentina's Independiente won the 2010 competition after defeating Goiás of Brazil by penalties in the final.

In the 2011 edition, Universidad de Chile became the first Chilean champion, defeating LDU Quito. Universidad de Chile also had the best performance to date at the tournament, with 10 victories, 2 draws and no loses, 21 goals scored and only 2 goals against. Its striker Eduardo Vargas became the top scorer in the history of Copa Sudamericana with 11 goals (surpassing Suazo's record of 10 goals).