Copa Libertadores Explained: What It Is and How It Works

The Copa Libertadores is South America's leading club competition, organised by CONMEBOL. In the 2026 edition, 47 clubs from the ten member associations take part from February to November: the tournament starts with the preliminary phases, moves on to the group stage and ends with the knockout rounds, with a single-match final. According to CONMEBOL, the name honours the heroes who laid the foundations of the South American nations. The 2026 champions earn places in the 2026 FIFA Intercontinental Cup, the 2029 FIFA Club World Cup and the group stage of the 2027 Libertadores.

In Brazil, the CBF splits the places between the Brasileirão and the Brazilian Cup, and the split changes from one year to the next. For 2026, the 2025 Brasileirão provided six, four in the group stage and two in Phase 2, and the Brazilian Cup winners one. Because Flamengo, winners of the 2025 Libertadores and Brasileirão, entered as continental champions, the fifth-placed club took the direct place, and the sixth and seventh went into Phase 2. For 2027, under the CBF's 2026 regulations, the Brasileirão provides five clubs and the Brazilian Cup two: the winners in the group stage and the runners-up in the preliminary phase.

The regulations set how many places each country gets, with no ranking of associations: in the 2026 edition, 7 for Brazil, 6 for Argentina and 4 for each of the other eight, 45 in total. Each association picks its clubs through its own competition system, and its national champions must be included. The previous year's Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana winners enter on top of the quota, straight into the group stage: in 2026, Flamengo and Lanús. The only ranking in the regulations is a club ranking, used to set the draw pots and home advantage.

From Phase 1 to the final

In the group stage, two clubs from the same country can only be drawn in the same group if one of them has come through Phase 3. After the group stage, a new draw pairs group winners with runners-up in the round of 16, and at that point clubs from the same country, or clubs that met in the groups, can be drawn together; the bracket all the way to the final comes from that draw. Up to the semi-finals, the club ranked higher in the order CONMEBOL sets at the end of the group stage plays the second leg at home: the eight group winners, ranked by their record, come ahead of the eight runners-up. Clubs from the same country can meet in the final.

In the 2026 edition, the full route has eight stages, all over two legs except the final. Six clubs start in Phase 1, and the three winners join another 13 in Phase 2; the eight who get through play Phase 3, and the four winners join the 28 clubs who qualified directly to make up the 32 in the group stage, in eight groups of four. The top two in each group reach the round of 16, and from there it is knockout football up to the final, scheduled for 28 November 2026 at the Estadio Centenario in Montevideo.

What the title is worth

The 2026 champions receive US$25 million for the final alone, according to CONMEBOL, and can exceed US$40 million once the prize money for each stage, the win bonuses and the place in the next group stage are added up. Each group-stage win is worth US$340,000, and the total prize pool exceeds US$220 million. CONMEBOL informs the clubs of the amounts for each stage by circular, and the text of its official prize announcement does not include them; added up, the stage-by-stage tables published in the press fall short of the more than US$40 million the champions can earn.

The title is worth more than the prize money. The 2026 champions face the Copa Sudamericana winners in the Recopa, over two legs with the second at home, and go straight into the group stage of the next Libertadores. In the 2026 FIFA Intercontinental Cup, they start in the Derby of the Americas against Toluca, the Concacaf champions, and still have to win the Challenger Cup to reach the final against the European champions. And according to FIFA, whoever wins one of the 2026, 2027 and 2028 editions secures a place at the 2029 FIFA Club World Cup.

The group-stage tie-breakers changed in the 2026 edition: the head-to-head record between the tied clubs became the first criterion, and away goals, which counted until 2025, were removed from the list. In the knockout rounds, the away goals rule stopped applying in the 2022 edition, and a level aggregate score goes straight to penalties, with no extra time. Only the final, a single match since the 2019 edition, has 30 minutes of extra time before penalties.

The history, from 1960 to 2025

Argentine and Uruguayan clubs won 23 of the first 30 editions, from 1960 to 1989. Brazilian clubs won 12 of the 16 from 2010 to 2025, including seven in a row from 2019 to 2025, five of them in finals between two Brazilian sides, and with Flamengo's title in 2025 they drew level with the Argentines on 25 titles. In the 2026 edition, the semi-final pairings confirmed by CONMEBOL on 18 September put Fluminense and Palmeiras against each other, which guaranteed at least one Brazilian club in the final, scheduled for 28 November.

The competition was created by the South American confederation on 2 August 1959, based on a Chilean idea, according to CONMEBOL's official history, and its first edition was played in 1960, still under the name Copa de Campeones de América. Peñarol of Uruguay won the first final, against Olimpia; Pelé's Santos won in 1962 and 1963; and Argentina's Independiente reached seven titles by the 2025 edition, four of them in a row, from 1972 to 1975.

The format has changed several times. The 2017 edition was the first with 47 clubs and a calendar spanning the whole year; until 2016, there were 38 clubs, playing in the first half of the year. The single-match final was approved in February 2018 and made its debut on 23 November 2019 in Lima, which replaced Santiago for reasons of force majeure. The away goals rule was dropped from the knockout rounds in the 2022 edition, after being in force for 17 editions, from 2005 to 2021, and from the group stage in 2026.

A few misconceptions are worth clearing up. The Libertadores is a club competition and should not be confused with the Copa América, which is for national teams. The final does not have to be played at a neutral ground: the regulations speak of a venue chosen in advance by CONMEBOL, and the 2023 final was played at the Maracanã, where Fluminense, who won the title, play their home games. And Mexican clubs took part as guests from 1998 to 2016 and lost all three finals they played, in 2001, 2010 and 2015; they left because Liga MX decided not to take part in the 2017 edition, the first played over the whole year.