Copa Libertadores Femenina

About Copa Libertadores Femenina

History, Format, Organization, Media Coverage

The Copa Libertadores Femenina is a women’s soccer competition organized by CONMEBOL. The tournament was created in 2009 to boost women’s soccer in the region, eventually forcing all South American teams to create a female team in 2019 if they want to play in the men’s version of the tournament. It is the only club competition for women’s teams in the region.

Contrary to the men’s version, the Copa Libertadores Femenina is played by 16 teams, all of them playing in domestic leagues from CONMEBOL countries. The clubs are drawn into four groups of four teams, where they are set to face their rivals once. The top two teams in each group make it to the KO stage of the tournament.

Once in the KO stage, teams are paired up against clubs from other countries in one-off ties. In case the game ends level after 90 minutes, penalties are going to be used to determine the winner. The semi finals and the title match no longer apply country restrictions to the ties. The title match is played at a neutral venue, where the same rules are applied as in the other stages in terms of tiebreakers.

Over the years, Brazilian teams have dominated the tournament. Three of them -Corinthians, Sao José, and Santos- have even won it in consecutive editions, each of them claiming the tournament twice in a row.