2021 Copa Sudamericana

On 2 October 2020, CONMEBOL's Council approved the implementation of format changes to the Copa Sudamericana starting from this edition, aimed at ensuring that each of the countries is better represented in the different stages of the competition. The following changes were implemented:^[9][10]

• The tournament was expanded from 54 to 56 teams, with all four Copa Libertadores third stage losers entering the competition instead of the two best teams eliminated.
• In the first stage, teams from all associations other than Argentina and Brazil played against a team from their same association in double-legged ties with the winners qualifying for a 32-team group stage, ensuring that at least two teams from each association will take part in the group stage.
• A group stage was included, with teams from Argentina and Brazil directly entering the Copa Sudamericana entering the competition at this stage, joining the 16 first stage winners and the four teams eliminated in the Copa Libertadores third stage. The winners of each group qualified for the round of 16.
• The eight third-placed teams of the Copa Libertadores group stage entered the competition at the round of 16.

The schedule of the competition will be as follows:^[9][23]

In the first stage, each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. If tied on aggregate, the away goals rule was used. If still tied, extra time will not be played, and a penalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winner (Regulations Article 2.4.2).^[1]

The 16 winners of the first stage advanced to the group stage to join the 12 teams directly qualified for that stage (six from Argentina and six from Brazil), and four teams transferred from the Copa Libertadores (the four teams eliminated in the third stage of qualifying).

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Guabirá	6–2	Nacional Potosí	4–1	2–1
Jorge Wilstermann	4–2	Atlético Palmaflor	2–1	2–1
Deportes Antofagasta	0–4	Huachipato	0–1	0–3
Cobresal	1–2	Palestino	0–0	1–2
Deportes Tolima	3–0	Deportivo Cali	3–0	0–0
La Equidad	3–2	Deportivo Pasto	1–2	2–0
Macará	2–4	Emelec	2–2	0–2
Aucas	5–1	Guayaquil City	2–1	3–0
12 de Octubre	0–0 (5–4 p)	Nacional	0–0	0–0
Guaireña	3–6	River Plate	1–2	2–4
UTC	0–5	Sport Huancayo	0–1	0–4
Carlos A. Mannucci	3–5	Melgar	1–2	2–3
Montevideo City Torque	2–0	Fénix	0–0	2–0
Cerro Largo	3–6	Peñarol	2–2	1–4
Metropolitanos	3–0	Academia Puerto Cabello	2–0	1–0
Aragua	2–2 (a)	Mineros de Guayana	0–1	2–1

In the group stage, each group is played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The teams are 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 2.4.3).^[1]

The winners of each group advanced to the round of 16 of the final stages.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		ROS	HUA	SLO	12O
1	Rosario Central	6	3	2	1	10	3	+7	11	Round of 16		—	5–0	2–0	0–0
2	Huachipato	6	2	2	2	4	10	−6	8			1–1	—	0–3	0–0
3	San Lorenzo	6	2	1	3	7	6	+1	7			1–2	0–1	—	1–1
4	12 de Octubre	6	1	3	2	3	5	−2	6			1–0	1–2	0–2	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		IND	MCT	BAH	GUA
1	Independiente	6	4	2	0	11	5	+6	14	Round of 16		—	3–1	1–0	1–0
2	Montevideo City Torque	6	3	2	1	15	7	+8	11			1–1	—	1–1	4–0
3	Bahia	6	2	2	2	11	8	+3	8			2–2	2–4	—	5–0
4	Guabirá	6	0	0	6	1	18	−17	0			1–3	0–4	0–1	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		ARS	CEA	BOL	WIL
1	Arsenal	6	3	2	1	9	4	+5	11	Round of 16		—	0–0	3–1	3–0
2	Ceará	6	2	3	1	5	2	+3	9			0–0	—	2–0	3–1
3	Bolívar	6	1	3	2	5	8	−3	6			2–1	0–0	—	2–2
4	Jorge Wilstermann	6	1	2	3	5	10	−5	5			1–2	1–0	0–0	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		CAP	MEL	AUC	MET
1	Athletico Paranaense	6	5	0	1	8	1	+7	15	Round of 16		—	1–0	4–0	1–0
2	Melgar	6	3	1	2	7	5	+2	10			1–0	—	2–0	0–0
3	Aucas	6	2	0	4	7	11	−4	6			0–1	2–1	—	3–0
4	Metropolitanos	6	1	1	4	5	10	−5	4			0–1	2–3	3–2	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		PEÑ	COR	RIV	SHU
1	Peñarol	6	4	1	1	15	3	+12	13	Round of 16		—	4–0	3–0	5–1
2	Corinthians	6	3	1	2	12	6	+6	10			0–2	—	4–0	5–0
3	River Plate	6	3	1	2	6	10	−4	10			2–1	0–0	—	2–1
4	Sport Huancayo	6	0	1	5	3	17	−14	1			0–0	0–3	1–2	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		LIB	ACG	NOB	PAL
1	Libertad	6	4	1	1	9	4	+5	13	Round of 16		—	1–2	1–0	2–0
2	Atlético Goianiense	6	2	4	0	4	2	+2	10			0–0	—	0–0	0–0
3	Newell's Old Boys	6	2	2	2	6	6	0	8			1–3	1–1	—	3–1
4	Palestino	6	0	1	5	2	9	−7	1			1–2	0–1	0–1	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		RBB	EME	TAL	TOL
1	Red Bull Bragantino	6	4	0	2	7	6	+1	12	Round of 16		—	2–0	0–1	2–1
2	Emelec	6	3	1	2	9	8	+1	10			3–0	—	1–4	2–0
3	Talleres	6	2	2	2	7	5	+2	8			0–1	1–2	—	0–0
4	Deportes Tolima	6	0	3	3	4	8	−4	3			1–2	1–1	1–1	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		GRE	LAN	EQU	ARA
1	Grêmio	6	5	1	0	21	5	+16	16	Round of 16		—	3–1	2–1	8–0
2	Lanús	6	3	1	2	8	6	+2	10			1–2	—	4–1	0–0
3	La Equidad	6	2	1	3	6	9	−3	7			0–0	0–1	—	2–1
4	Aragua	6	0	1	5	4	19	−15	1			2–6	0–1	1–2	—

Starting from the round of 16, the teams play a single-elimination tournament with the following rules:^[1]

• 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). If tied on aggregate, the away goals rule will be used. If still tied, extra time will not be played, and a penalty shoot-out will be used to determine the winners (Regulations Article 2.4.4).
• 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 2.2.6). 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 2.4.5).

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

Seed	Grp	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Round of 16 draw
1	SH	Grêmio	6	5	1	0	21	5	+16	16	Pot 1
2	SD	Athletico Paranaense	6	5	0	1	8	1	+7	15
3	SB	Independiente	6	4	2	0	11	5	+6	14
4	SE	Peñarol	6	4	1	1	15	3	+12	13
5	SF	Libertad	6	4	1	1	9	4	+5	13
6	SG	Red Bull Bragantino	6	4	0	2	7	6	+1	12
7	SA	Rosario Central	6	3	2	1	10	3	+7	11
8	SC	Arsenal	6	3	2	1	9	4	+5	11
9	LB	Deportivo Táchira	6	3	0	3	14	17	−3	9	Pot 2
10	LG	LDU Quito	6	2	2	2	15	13	+2	8
11	LF	Nacional	6	2	2	2	8	9	−1	8
12	LD	Junior	6	1	4	1	6	6	0	7
13	LC	Santos	6	2	0	4	8	9	−1	6
14	LA	Independiente del Valle	6	1	2	3	8	11	−3	5
15	LH	América de Cali	6	1	1	4	5	9	−4	4
16	LE	Sporting Cristal	6	1	1	4	3	10	−7	4

The bracket was decided based on the round of 16 draw, which was held on 1 June 2021.

	Round of 16							Quarter-finals							Semi-finals							Final
	16	Sporting Cristal	2	1	3
	8	Arsenal	1	1	2
								16	Sporting Cristal	1	0	1
								4	Peñarol	3	1	4
	11	Nacional	1	1	2
	4	Peñarol (a)	2	0	2
															4	Peñarol	1	0	1
															2	Athletico Paranaense	2	2	4
	10	LDU Quito (a)	0	2	2
	1	Grêmio	1	1	2
								10	LDU Quito	1	2	3
								2	Athletico Paranaense	0	4	4
	15	América de Cali	0	1	1
																						20 November – Montevideo
	2	Athletico Paranaense	1	4	5
																						2	Athletico Paranaense	1
																						6	Red Bull Bragantino	0
	9	Deportivo Táchira	2	0	2
	7	Rosario Central	2	1	3
								7	Rosario Central	3	0	3
								6	Red Bull Bragantino	4	1	5
	14	Independiente del Valle	0	1	1
	6	Red Bull Bragantino	2	1	3
															6	Red Bull Bragantino	2	3	5
															5	Libertad	0	1	1
	13	Santos	1	1	2
	3	Independiente	0	1	1
								13	Santos	2	0	2
								5	Libertad (a)	1	1	2
	12	Junior	3	1	4
	5	Libertad (a)	4	0	4

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Nacional	2–2 (a)	Peñarol	1–2	1–0
Independiente del Valle	1–3	Red Bull Bragantino	0–2	1–1
Santos	2–1	Independiente	1–0	1–1
América de Cali	1–5	Athletico Paranaense	0–1	1–4
LDU Quito	2–2 (a)	Grêmio	0–1	2–1
Junior	4–4 (a)	Libertad	3–4	1–0
Deportivo Táchira	2–3	Rosario Central	2–2	0–1
Sporting Cristal	3–2	Arsenal	2–1	1–1

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Sporting Cristal	1–4	Peñarol	1–3	0–1
Rosario Central	3–5	Red Bull Bragantino	3–4	0–1
Santos	2–2 (a)	Libertad	2–1	0–1
LDU Quito	3–4	Athletico Paranaense	1–0	2–4

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Peñarol	1–4	Athletico Paranaense	1–2	0–2
Red Bull Bragantino	5–1	Libertad	2–0	3–1

20 November 2021 (2021-11-20)

17:00 UTC−3

Athletico Paranaense	1–0	Red Bull Bragantino
Nikão 29'	Report

Estadio Centenario, Montevideo

Attendance: 20,000

Referee: Andrés Matonte (Uruguay)^[32]

Rank	Player	Team	1S1	1S2	GS1	GS2	GS3	GS4	GS5	GS6	⅛F1	⅛F2	QF1	QF2	SF1	SF2	F	Total
1	Agustín Álvarez Martínez	Peñarol		2	2			3	1				1		1			10
2	Artur	Red Bull Bragantino						1					3	1	1	1		7
3	Gustavo Del Prete	Montevideo City Torque		1		1	2	1	1									6
	Jonathan Herrera	Independiente			3	1	1	1
5	Lucas Albertengo	Arsenal					1		1	2		1						5
	Bernardo Cuesta	Melgar		1	1	2		1
	Ferreira	Grêmio				1	2	2
	Humberto Osorio	Jorge Wilstermann	1	1	1			1	1
9	Marcelo González	River Plate		1		2		1										4
	Nikão	Athletico Paranaense									1	1				1	1
	David Terans	Peñarol Athletico Paranaense	1		1	1									1
	Facundo Torres	Peñarol		1	1		1						1
	Vitinho	Athletico Paranaense						1		1		2

Source: CONMEBOL.com