2016 Copa Sudamericana

The 2016 Copa Sudamericana (Portuguese: Copa Sul-Americana 2016) was the 15th edition of the Copa Sudamericana, South America's secondary club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL.

The finals were originally to be played between Brazilian team Chapecoense and Colombian team Atlético Nacional. However, on 28 November 2016, LaMia Flight 2933, which was carrying Chapecoense squad to the first leg, crashed on the way to the José María Córdova International Airport. There were 71 fatalities, including 19 of the 22 Chapecoense players on the plane. CONMEBOL immediately suspended all activities, including the scheduled final matches, in the early morning of 29 November. In light of these events, Atlético Nacional requested that CONMEBOL award the title to Chapecoense, which they did on 5 December, while Atlético Nacional received the "CONMEBOL Centenario Fair Play" award for their gesture.

As winners of the 2016 Copa Sudamericana, Chapecoense earned the right to play against the winners of the 2016 Copa Libertadores in the 2017 Recopa Sudamericana, and the winners of the 2016 J.League Cup in the 2017 Suruga Bank Championship. They also automatically qualified for the 2017 Copa Libertadores group stage. Santa Fe were the defending champions, but were eliminated by Cerro Porteño in the Round of 16.

The following 47 teams from the 10 CONMEBOL associations qualified for the tournament:

• Title holders
• Brazil: 8 berths
• Argentina: 6 berths
• All other associations: 4 berths each

The entry stage is determined as follows:

• Round of 16: Title holders
• Second stage: 14 teams (teams from Argentina and Brazil)
• First stage: 32 teams (teams from all other associations)

The draw of the tournament was held on 12 July 2016, 20:00 CLT (UTC−4), at the Espacio Riesco Convention and Events Center in Huechuraba, Chile.

For the first stage, the 32 teams were divided into two zones:

• South Zone: The 16 teams from Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay were drawn into eight ties.
• North Zone: The 16 teams from Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela were drawn into eight ties.

Teams which qualified for berths 1 were drawn against teams which qualified for berths 4, and teams which qualified for berths 2 were drawn against teams which qualified for berths 3, with the former hosting the second leg in both cases. Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same tie. For the second stage, the 30 teams, including the 16 winners of the first stage (eight from South Zone, eight from North Zone), whose identity was not known at the time of the draw, and the 14 teams which entered the second stage, were divided into three sections:

• Winners of the first stage: The 16 winners of the first stage were drawn into eight ties, with the order of legs decided by draw. Teams from the same association could be drawn into the same tie.
• Brazil: The eight teams from Brazil were drawn into four ties. Teams which qualified for berths 1–4 were drawn against teams which qualified for berths 5–8, with the former hosting the second leg.
• Argentina: The six teams from Argentina were drawn into three ties. Teams which qualified for berths 1–3 were drawn against teams which qualified for berths 4–6, with the former hosting the second leg.

The schedule of the competition was as follows (all dates listed are Wednesdays, but matches may be played on Tuesdays and Thursdays as well).

Notes

In the elimination stages (first stage and second 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 5.1). The 15 winners of the second stage (eight from winners of the first stage, four from Brazil, three from Argentina) advanced to the round of 16 to join the defending champions (Santa Fe).

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 3.2).
• 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 5.1).
• 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 5.2).

CONMEBOL confirmed that the bracket would remain the same as the draw of the tournament regardless of the nationality of the semifinalists. In previous seasons, if there were two semifinalists from the same association, they had to play each other.

The qualified teams were seeded in the final stages according to the draw of the tournament, with each team assigned a "seed" 1–16 by draw.

The finals were suspended on 29 November following the crash of LaMia Flight 2933. CONMEBOL awarded the title to Chapecoense on 5 December 2016.

Source: CONMEBOL.com

Source: CONMEBOL.com

• 2016 Copa Libertadores

• 2017 Recopa Sudamericana

• 2017 Suruga Bank Championship

• Copa Sudamericana 2016, CONMEBOL.com (in Spanish)