The Copa Sudamericana (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈkopa suðameɾiˈkana]; Portuguese: Copa Sul-Americana [ˈkɔpɐ ˈsuw ɐmeɾiˈkɐnɐ]) is an annual international club football competition organized by the CONMEBOL since 2002.
It is the second most prestigious club competition in South American football. CONCACAF clubs were invited between 2004 and 2008.[2] The Copa Sudamerican began in 2002, replacing the separate competitions Copa Merconorte and Copa Mercosur (that before replaced Copa Conmebol) by a single competition.
Since its introduction, the competition has been a pure elimination tournament with the number of rounds and teams varying from year to year.
The Copa Sudamericana is considered a merger of defunct tournaments such as the Copa CONMEBOL, Copa Mercosur and Copa Merconorte. The winner of the Copa Sudamericana becomes eligible to play in the Recopa Sudamericana.
They also gain entry onto the next edition of the Copa Libertadores, South America's premier club competition. They also contest the Suruga Bank Championship.
The reigning champion of the competition is Colombian club Santa Fe. Argentine club Boca Juniors is the most successful club in the cup history, having won the tournament twice.
Argentine clubs have accumulated the most amount of victories with seven wins while containing the largest number of different winning teams, with a total of six clubs having won the title. The cup has been won by eleven different clubs and won consecutively once, by Boca Juniors in 2004 and 2005.
