Dates 28 Feb 2017 – 13 Dec 2017 | Location South America | |
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Teams 44+10 (from 10 associations) Similar 2017 Copa Libertadores, 2016 Copa Sudamericana, 2015 Copa Sudamericana, 2016 Copa Libertadores, 2014 Copa Sudamericana |
The 2017 Copa CONMEBOL Sudamericana (Portuguese: 2017 Copa CONMEBOL Sul-Americana) will be the 16th edition of the Copa Sudamericana, South America's secondary club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL.
Contents
The winners of the 2017 Copa Sudamericana will qualify for the 2018 Copa Libertadores, and also earn the right to play against the winners of the 2017 Copa Libertadores in the 2018 Recopa Sudamericana, and the winners of the 2017 J.League Cup in the 2018 Suruga Bank Championship.
Chapecoense are the defending champions, but since they qualified for the 2017 Copa Libertadores group stage as the Copa Sudamericana title holders, they will not participate in the 2017 Copa Sudamericana unless they finish third in their Copa Libertadores group.
Format changes
Starting from this season, the following format changes will be implemented:
Teams
The following 44 teams from the 10 CONMEBOL associations qualified for the tournament, entering the first stage:
A further 10 teams eliminated from the 2017 Copa Libertadores will be transferred to the Copa Sudamericana, entering the second stage.
Draw
The draw of the first stage was held on 31 January 2017, 21:00 PYST (UTC−3), at the CONMEBOL Convention Centre in Luque, Paraguay.
For the first stage, the 44 teams were divided into two zones:
Teams from the South Zone were allocated to Pot A and teams from the North Zone were allocated to Pot B. The 44 teams were drawn into 22 ties (G1–G22) between a team from Pot A and a team from Pot B, with teams from Pot B hosting the second leg in odd-numbered ties, and teams from Pot A hosting the second leg in even-numbered ties. This distribution ensured that teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same tie.
There will be a separate draw for the second stage, which will be held on 2 June 2017. The 32 teams will be drawn into 16 ties.
Schedule
The schedule of the competition is as follows.
First stage
The 44 direct qualifiers play in the first stage.
Second stage
The 22 winners of the first stage advance to the second stage to join the 10 teams which are transferred from the 2017 Copa Libertadores (two best teams eliminated in the third qualifying stage and eight third-placed teams in the group stage).