The 2002 Copa Sudamericana was the inaugural

Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, named as ''Copa Sudamericana'' (; pt, Copa Sul-Americana ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club competition in South American ...

, a club

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

tournament organized by

CONMEBOL The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL, , or CSF; es, Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol; pt, Confederação Sul-Americana de Futebol) is the continental governing body of football in South America (apart from Guyana, Suri ...

. It took place between August 28 and December 11. After the failure in creating a Pan-American Cup to be played among teams from the entire

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

continent, CONMEBOL decided to create another tournament bearing the continent's name. Nine association's clubs entered the first competition, with one not sending a representative; Brazilian clubs did not participate due to the late organization of the tournament and schedule conflicts. The first match of the competition took place between Venezuelan sides

Nacional Táchira Club Nacional Táchira (usually called Nacional Táchira) was a professional club and the club has won one First Division title in the professional era. The club was based in Táchira. History The club was 2002 Torneo Clausura champion with 36 ...

and

Monagas ) , anthem = '' Himno del Estado Monagas'' , image_map = Monagas in Venezuela.svg , map_alt = , map_caption = Location within Venezuela , pushpin_map = , pushpin_m ...

in San Cristóbal,

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

. During the match, Carlos Bravo became the first player to score a goal in the competition.

Pierre Webó Pierre Achille Webó Kouamo (born 20 January 1982), known as Webó, is a Cameroonian football manager and former professional player who played as a striker. He is the assistant manager of Turkish club İstanbul Başakşehir. He spent eight ye ...

, a player from

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

playing for

Nacional Nacional, the Portuguese and Spanish word for "national", may refer to: Airlines * Nacional Transportes Aéreos, a Brazilian airline defunct in 2002 * Transportes Aéreos Nacional, a Brazilian airline defunct in 1961 Bank * Banco Nacional, a ...

, became the first non-South American topscorer of any South American tournament.

San Lorenzo San Lorenzo is the Italian and Spanish name for Lawrence of Rome, Saint Lawrence, the 3rd-century Christian martyr, and may refer to: Places Argentina * San Lorenzo, Santa Fe * San Lorenzo Department, Chaco * Monte San Lorenzo, a mountain on t ...

, invited for being the winners of the

2001 Copa Mercosur The Copa Mercosur 2001 was the 4th and final staging of the international club cup. The competition started on 21 July 2001 and concluded on 24 January 2002 with San Lorenzo beating Flamengo in the final.Atlético Nacional Atlético Nacional S. A., best known as Atlético Nacional, is a Colombian professional association football, football club based in Medellín. The club is one of only three clubs to have played in every first division tournament in the countr ...

4–0 on aggregate and became the first winners of the Copa Sudamericana.

Qualified teams

First stage

Second stage

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Final stages

Teams from the Quarterfinals onwards will be seeded depending on which First Round tie they win (i.e. the winner of Match D1 will have the 1 seed).

Quarterfinals

Eight teams advanced to the quarterfinals from the first round. The first leg of the quarterfinals took place the week of October 1, with the second leg taking place the week of October 30. In each tie, the team with the higher seed will play at home in the second leg.

Semifinals

The first leg of the semifinals took place the week of November 5, with the second leg taking place the week of November 13.

Finals

In the finals, if the finalists are tied on points after the culmination of the second leg, the winner will be the team who scored the most goals. If they are tied on goals, the game will move onto a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...

if necessary. ----

References

External links

Copa Sudamericana 2002
Archived URL {{Copa Sudamericana seasons 2 Copa Sudamericana seasons