2023 Copa Libertadores

The 2023 Copa CONMEBOL Libertadores was the 64th edition of the CONMEBOL Libertadores (also referred to as the Copa Libertadores), South America's premier club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL.

The final was played at the Estádio do Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 4 November 2023. Brazilian club Fluminense were the champions, winning their first Copa Libertadores title after defeating Argentine side Boca Juniors 2–1 after extra time in the final. As winners of the 2023 Copa Libertadores, Fluminense earned the right to play against the winners of the 2023 Copa Sudamericana in the 2024 Recopa Sudamericana. They also automatically qualified for the 2023 and 2025 FIFA Club World Cups and the 2024 Copa Libertadores group stage.

Flamengo were the defending champions, but were eliminated by Olimpia in the round of 16.

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

• Copa Libertadores champions
• Copa Sudamericana champions
• Brazil: 7 berths
• Argentina: 6 berths
• All other associations: 4 berths each

The entry stage is determined as follows:

• Group stage: 28 teams
  • Copa Libertadores champions
  • Copa Sudamericana champions
  • Teams which qualified for berths 1–5 from Argentina and Brazil
  • Teams which qualified for berths 1–2 from all other associations
• Second stage: 13 teams
  • Teams which qualified for berths 6–7 from Brazil
  • Team which qualified for berth 6 from Argentina
  • Teams which qualified for berths 3–4 from Chile and Colombia
  • Teams which qualified for berth 3 from all other associations
• First stage: 6 teams
  • Teams which qualified for berth 4 from Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela

Notes

The schedule of the competition was as follows:

The draw for the qualifying stages was held on 21 December 2022, 12:00 PYST (UTC−3), at the CONMEBOL Convention Centre in Luque, Paraguay.

Teams were seeded by their CONMEBOL Clubs ranking as of 9 December 2022 (shown in parentheses), taking into account the following three factors:

1. Performance in the last 10 years, taking into account Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana results in the period 2013–2022.
2. Historical coefficient, taking into account Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana results in the period 1960–2012 and 2002–2012 respectively.
3. Local tournament champion, with bonus points awarded to domestic league champions of the last 10 years.

For the first stage, the six teams were drawn into three ties (E1–E3), with the teams from Pot 1 hosting the second leg.

For the second stage, the 16 teams were drawn into eight ties (C1–C8), with the teams from Pot 1 hosting the second leg. Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same tie, excluding the three winners of the first stage, which were seeded in Pot 2 and whose identity was not known at the time of the draw, and could be drawn into the same tie with another team from the same association.

For the third stage, the eight winners of the second stage were allocated without any draw into the following four ties (G1–G4), with the team in each tie with the higher CONMEBOL ranking hosting the second leg.

• Second stage winner C1 vs. Second stage winner C8
• Second stage winner C2 vs. Second stage winner C7
• Second stage winner C3 vs. Second stage winner C6
• Second stage winner C4 vs. Second stage winner C5

The draw for the group stage was held on 27 March 2023, 20:00 PYT (UTC−4), at the CONMEBOL Convention Centre in Luque, Paraguay. For the group stage, the 32 teams were drawn into eight groups (Groups A–H) of four containing a team from each of the four pots. The defending champions Flamengo were directly assigned as the top seed of Group A (position A1). The remaining teams were distributed into four pots according to their CONMEBOL Clubs ranking. Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group, excluding the four winners of the third stage, which were allocated to Pot 4 and could be drawn into the same group with another team from the same association.

Notes

The draw for the round of 16 was held on 5 July 2023, 12:00 PYT (UTC−4) at the CONMEBOL Convention Center in Luque, Paraguay. For the round of 16, the 16 teams were drawn into eight ties (A–H) between a group winner (Pot 1) and a group runner-up (Pot 2), with the group winners hosting the second leg. Teams from the same association or the same group could be drawn into the same tie (Regulations Article 2.2.3.2).

In the qualifying stages, each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. If the teams had been tied on aggregate, extra time would not have been played, and a penalty shoot-out would have been used to determine the winner (Regulations Article 2.4.3).

The qualifying stages were structured as follows:

• First stage (6 teams): The three winners of the first stage advanced to the second stage to join the 13 teams which were given byes to the second stage.
• Second stage (16 teams): The eight winners of the second stage advanced to the third stage.
• Third stage (8 teams): The four winners of the third stage advanced to the group stage to join the 28 direct entrants. The four teams eliminated in the third stage entered the 2023 Copa Sudamericana group stage.

In the group stage, each group was played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The teams were ranked according to the following criteria: 1. Points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss); 2. Goal difference; 3. Goals scored; 4. Away goals scored; 5. CONMEBOL ranking (Regulations Article 2.4.2).

The winners and runners-up of each group advanced to the round of 16 of the final stages. The third-placed teams of each group entered the knockout round play-offs of the 2023 Copa Sudamericana.

Starting from the round of 16, the teams play a single-elimination tournament with the following rules:

• In the round of 16, quarter-finals and semi-finals, each tie is played on a home-and-away two-legged basis, with the higher-seeded team hosting the second leg (Regulations Article 2.2.3.2). If tied on aggregate, away goals will not be used, extra time will not be played, and a penalty shoot-out will be used to determine the winners (Regulations Article 2.4.3).
• The final is played as a single match at a venue pre-selected by CONMEBOL, with the higher-seeded team designated as the "home" team for administrative purposes (Regulations Article 2.2.3.5). If tied after regulation, 30 minutes of extra time will be played. If still tied after extra time, a penalty shoot-out will be used to determine the winners (Regulations Article 2.4.4).

The winners and runners-up of each of the eight groups in the group stage advanced to the round of 16.

Starting from the round of 16, the teams are seeded according to their results in the group stage, with the group winners (Pot 1) seeded 1–8, and the group runners-up (Pot 2) seeded 9–16.

The bracket was decided based on the round of 16 draw, which was held on 5 July 2023.

Source: CONMEBOL

The CONMEBOL technical study group selected the following 11 players as the team of the tournament.

• 2023 Copa Sudamericana

• CONMEBOL Libertadores 2023, CONMEBOL.com

• CONMEBOL Libertadores – 2023 Yearbook