The 2011 Copa Sudamericana de Clubes (officially the 2011 Copa Bridgestone Sudamericana de Clubes for sponsorship reasons) was the 10th edition of the

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 ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

's secondary international club football 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 ...

. The winner,

Universidad de Chile The University of Chile ( es, Universidad de Chile) is a public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843.

, qualified for the 2012 Copa Libertadores, the

2012 Recopa Sudamericana The 2012 Recopa Sudamericana (officially the 2012 Recopa Santander Sudamericana for sponsorship reasons) was the 20th edition of the Recopa Sudamericana, the football competition organized by CONMEBOL between the winners of the previous season's t ...

, and the

2012 Suruga Bank Championship The 2012 Suruga Bank Championship ( ja, スルガ銀行チャンピオンシップ2012; es, Copa Suruga Bank 2012, link=no) was the fifth edition of the Suruga Bank Championship, the club football match co-organized by the Japan Football Assoc ...

Qualified teams

Draw

The draw was originally to be held on June 14, 2011 at CONMEBOL's Convention Center in

Luque Luque () is a city in Central Department of Paraguay, part of the Gran Asunción metropolitan area. Both 1635 and 1750 have been recorded as dates of its founding. It was temporarily the capital of Paraguay in 1868 during the Paraguayan War b ...

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

, but was postponed by CONMEBOL due to disruptions to air traffic in the region by the volcanic eruption of the Puyehue-Cordón Caulle volcanic complex, first to June 16, and then to June 21, and finally to June 28, with the venue switched to the Sheraton Hotel in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. The tournament was played in single-elimination format, with each tie played over two legs. The draw mechanism was as follows:Copa Bridgestone Sudamericana Reglamento 2011
;First Stage *The sixteen teams which qualify through berths 2 and 3 from the eight countries other than Argentina and Brazil were drawn against each other. The matchups were based on countries: Bolivia v Paraguay, Chile v Uruguay, Colombia v Peru, Ecuador v Venezuela. ;Second Stage *The eight winners of the First Stage were drawn against the eight teams which qualify through berth 1 from the eight countries other than Argentina and Brazil. *The six teams from Argentina, excluding the defending champion, were drawn against each other, where the matchups were based on the berths which the teams qualify through: 1 v 6, 2 v 5, 3 v 4, with the former playing the second leg at home. *The eight teams from Brazil were drawn against each other, where the matchups were based on the berths which the teams qualify through: 1 v 8, 2 v 7, 3 v 6, 4 v 5, with the former playing the second leg at home. ;Final stages *The 15 winners of the Second Stage, together with the defending champion, were assigned a "seed" starting from the round of 16, which was used to determine the bracket of the final stages, with the higher-seeded team playing the second leg at home in each tie.

Change of sponsorship

During the draw, CONMEBOL announced that Bridgestone would replace

Nissan Motors , trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the Nissan, Infiniti, and Datsun brands ...

as the primary sponsor of the tournament. The official name of the tournament would be changed accordingly to the Copa Bridgestone Sudamericana.

Schedule

All dates listed are Wednesdays, but matches may be played on the day before (Tuesdays) and after (Thursdays) as well.

Preliminary stages

The first two stages of the competition are the First Stage and Second Stage. Both stages are largely played concurrent to each other.

First stage

The First Stage began on August 2 and ended on August 25.Copa Bridgestone Sudamericana 2011 - Programa de Partidos - 1a. y 2a. Fase
''Team 1'' played the second leg at home. , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , -

Second stage

The Second Stage began on August 10 and ended on September 22. ''Team 1'' played the second leg at home. , -

Final stages

Teams from the Round of 16 onwards were seeded depending on which second stage tie they won (i.e., the winner of Match O1 would be assigned the 1 seed, etc.; the defending champion, Independiente, was assigned the 5 seed).Copa Bridgestone Sudamericana 2011: Cuadro de desarrollo desde Octavos de Final
/ref>

Bracket

In each tie, the higher-seeded team played the second leg at home.

Round of 16

The Round of 16 began on September 28 and ended on October 26. ''Team 1'' played the second leg at home. , -

Quarterfinals

The Quarterfinals began on November 1 and ended on November 17. ''Team 1'' played the second leg at home. , -

Semifinals

The Semifinals began on November 23 and ended on November 30. ''Team 1'' played the second leg at home. , -

Finals

The Finals were played over two legs, with the higher-seeded team playing the second leg at home. If the teams were tied on points and goal difference at the end of regulation in the second leg, the

away goals rule The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaker, tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the ...

would not be applied and 30 minutes of extra time would be played. If still tied after extra time, the title would be decided by

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 pe ...