Conmebol's "Blue Ribbon" club competition, The Copa Libertadores, was launched in 1960 as a response to the success of the European Cup, which had been in existence since 1955. South America, however, can claim the first Continental club competition which took place in 1948, organised by Chile's Colo Colo. Libertadores refers to Liberators, remembering the Spanish and Portuguese leaders of the Latin American War of Independence.
Colo Colo won the Chilean Championship in 1947 and so invited six other clubs to compete for the Copa de Campeones in order to find the best club in South America. They were joined by Nacional of Uruguay and River Plate from Argentina, the Peruvian runners-up Municipal and clubs from countries that didn't hold a national competition; Litoral of Bolivia, Emelec of Ecuador and Vasco da Gama from Brazil. They played in a "round robin" league which began with a 2-2 draw between Colo Colo and Emelec and was decided when Vasco da Gama held River Plate in the last round of matches to secure the title from the Argentinians by one point.
Vasco's Albino Friaca, scored a goal in Brazil's defeat to Uruguay in the final match of the 1950 World Cup, along with Barbosa, Brazil's goalkeeper scapegoat for that "infamous" game. While the competition was a success on the pitch, the Copa de Campeones was a financial disaster and the idea was "canned" until UEFA by adding numbers to the competition, showed that it could be workable. In 1960 Conmebol tried again, when Penarol of Uruguay won the first title with a team built around Alberto Spencer, who scored 54 goals, still a tournament record, unsurprisingly! HERE HE IS....
The 2024 Copa CONMEBOL Libertadores was the 65th edition of the CONMEBOL Libertadores (also referred to as the Copa Libertadores). The competition began on 6 February and ended on 30 November 2024, with the Final played at Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aries Argentina.
Brazilian club Botafogo won their first Copa Libertadores title, defeating fellow Brazilian side Atletico Mineiro 3–1 in the Final. They also automatically qualified for the 2024 FIFA Intercontinental Cup, the 2025 World Club Cup and the 2025 Copa Libertadores group stage. Fluminese were the defending champions, but were eliminated by Atlético Mineiro in the quarter-finals.
This tournament was marred by the death of Juan Izquierdo, the Uruguayan footballer who was playing for Nacional, during a round of 16 match against Sao Paulo. Izquierdo collapsed on the pitch due to cardio arrhythmia and passed away at the hospital five days after the incident.
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