The 2009 Copa Libertadores de América (officially the 2009 Copa Santander Libertadores de América for sponsorship reasons) was the 50th edition of the
Copa Libertadores de América, CONMEBOL's premier annual international club tournament.
The tournament was won by
Argentine
Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish ( masculine) or ( feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines ...
club
Estudiantes de La Plata
Club Estudiantes de La Plata ( lit. "Students from La Plata"), simply referred to as Estudiantes de La Plata , is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Plata. The club's football team currently competes in the Primera División, wher ...
, who achieved their fourth Copa Libertadores title and first in 39 years. Since the inception of a preliminary round in 2004, they are the first club to start in that round and win the Copa Libertadores. Estudiantes earned a berth to play in
2010 Recopa Sudamericana
The 2010 Recopa Sudamericana de Clubes was a two-legged tie that determined the winner of the Recopa Sudamericana, an annual football match between the winners of the previous season's Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana competitions. It was co ...
and in the
2009 FIFA Club World Cup
The 2009 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2009 presented by Toyota for sponsorship reasons) was a football tournament played from 9 to 19 December 2009. It was the sixth FIFA Club World Cup and was played in ...
but lost both titles to
LDU Quito
Liga Deportiva Universitaria (), often referred to as Liga de Quito, LDU, is an Ecuadorian professional football club based in Quito. They play in the Serie A, the highest level of the Ecuadorian professional football league. They play their ho ...
and
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ...
respectively.
Qualified teams
Round and draw dates
The calendar shows the dates of the rounds and draw. All events occurred in 2009 unless otherwise stated.
Tie-breaking criteria
At each stage of the tournament teams receive 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and no points for a loss. If two or more teams are equal on points, the following criteria will be applied to determine the rankings in the group stage:
#superior goal difference;
#higher number of go