The 2023 UEFA–CONMEBOL Club Challenge ( es, UEFA–CONMEBOL Desafío de Clubes 2023), named Antonio Puerta XII in honour of the former Sevilla player who died in 2007, was the inaugural edition of the

UEFA–CONMEBOL Club Challenge The UEFA–CONMEBOL Club Challenge ( es, UEFA–CONMEBOL Desafío de Clubes; pt, UEFA–CONMEBOL Desafio de Clubes) is a football friendly match organised by CONMEBOL and UEFA. The match is contested by the winners of the South American and Eu ...

, a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

match organised by

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

and

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 ...

between the reigning champions of the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

and

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 ...

. UEFA was in charge of the main organization of the first edition. The UEFA–CONMEBOL Club Challenge was officially launched on 7 July 2023 as part of the

UEFA–CONMEBOL memorandum of understanding The UEFA–CONMEBOL memorandum of understanding ( es, Memorando de Entendimiento)

. The single match was played on 19 July 2023 at Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium in

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

, Spain, between Spanish club Sevilla, the

2022–23 UEFA Europa League The 2022–23 UEFA Europa League is the 52nd season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 14th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final will be played at the Puská ...

winners and Ecuadorian club Independiente del Valle, the

2022 Copa Sudamericana The 2022 Copa CONMEBOL Sudamericana was the 21st edition of the Copa Sudamericana, CONMEBOL Sudamericana (also referred to as the ''Copa Sudamericana''), South America's secondary club association football, football tournament organized by CONMEBO ...

winners.

Background

The match was announced by UEFA and CONMEBOL as a pilot edition. This was the first meeting between a Spanish and an Ecuadorian club representing UEFA and CONMEBOL, respectively. The match was, at the same time, the twelfth edition of the

Antonio Puerta Trophy The Antonio Puerta Trophy is an annual summer tournament hosted by Sevilla FC since 2008. The tournament is dedicated to Antonio Puerta, who died on August 28, 2007 (at the age of 22) after suffering a heart injury during the inaugural match of t ...

, an annual football match hosted by Sevilla dedicated to its former player Antonio Puerta, who died in 2007 at the age of 22 following a cardiac arrest, during the inaugural match of the

2007–08 La Liga The 2007–08 La Liga season, the 77th since its establishment, started on 25 August 2007 and finished on 18 May 2008. Real Madrid defended their La Liga title successfully after a 2–1 victory over Osasuna. This season, all European leagues en ...

season between Sevilla and Getafe. The official nature of the match was initially not entirely clear; UEFA considered it as a friendly due to the unlimited substitutions agreed by both clubs. However, on 10 June 2024, UEFA considered the tournament as official. Sevilla won the

on 31 May 2023, defeating Italian side

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

4–1 penalties following a 1–1 draw after extra time in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

, making it a record of seven UEFA Cup/Europa League titles for the Sevillians. For its part, Independiente del Valle won their second

title by beating Brazilian side

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

2–0 in the

of the

held on 1 October 2022. In the run-up to the match, Sevilla were in pre-season preparations ahead of their 2023–24 campaign, while Independiente del Valle were in the middle of their 2023 season, having won the first stage of the

2023 Ecuadorian Serie A The 2023 Campeonato Ecuatoriano de Fútbol Serie A, known as the LigaPro BET593 2023 for sponsoring purposes, was the 65th season of the Serie A, Ecuador's top tier football league, and the fifth under the management of the ''Liga Profesional de F ...

and looking ahead to their round of 16 tie against Colombia's

Deportivo Pereira Deportivo Pereira is a professional Colombian football team based in Pereira, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at the Hernán Ramírez Villegas stadium. History Early years While there are several ...

in the

2023 Copa Libertadores The 2023 Copa CONMEBOL Libertadores will be the 64th edition of the CONMEBOL Libertadores (also referred to as the ''Copa Libertadores''), South America's premier club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. The winners of the 2023 Copa Lib ...

Teams

Pre-match

Officials

The refereeing team for this edition was appointed by UEFA.

Squads

Sevilla named a 30-man squad for a training camp to be held from 9 to 19 July 2023, including the UEFA–CONMEBOL Club Challenge match. Independiente del Valle traveled with 23 players to its mid-season tour in Spain, which, in addition to the UEFA–CONMEBOL Club Challenge match, included meetings with Orlando Pirates and Getafe. Players Kendry Páez, Patrick Mercado and Yaimar Medina were expected to join the team after their participation in the

U-20 Copa Libertadores The Under-20 CONMEBOL Libertadores (Portuguese and Spanish: CONMEBOL Libertadores Sub-20) is the international association football club competition for teams that play in CONMEBOL leagues. It was created by Manuel Burga Seoane and the Peruvian ...

, but ultimately did not do so by decision of their team.

Match

Details

Notes

References

External links

{{C.S.D. Independiente del Valle matches UEFA–CONMEBOL UEFA–CONMEBOL International club association football competitions hosted by Spain UEFA–CONMEBOL Club Challenge Football competitions in Seville Sevilla FC matches Independiente del Valle matches 2023–24 in Spanish football 2023 in Ecuadorian football UEFA–CONMEBOL Club Challenge