The 2015 Copa Sudamericana ( pt, Copa Sul-Americana 2015) was the 14th 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 southe ...

's secondary club

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 ...

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 ...

. Colombian team Santa Fe qualified to play in the 2016 Copa Libertadores, the 2016 Recopa Sudamericana, and the 2016 Suruga Bank Championship, after winning 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 ...

against Argentinian team Huracán 3–1 on penalties (0–0 on aggregate after extra time). River Plate were the defending champions, but were eliminated by Huracán in the semifinals.

Teams

The following 47 teams from the 10 CONMEBOL associations qualified for the tournament: *Title holders *Brazil: 8 berths *Argentina: 6 berths *All other associations: 4 berths each The entry stage is determined as follows: *Round of 16: Title holders *Second stage: 14 teams (teams from Argentina and Brazil) *First stage: 32 teams (teams from all other associations)

Draw

The draw of the tournament was held on July 16, 2015, at the CONMEBOL Convention Centre 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 be ...

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 ...

. For the first stage, the 32 teams were divided into two zones: *South Zone: The 16 teams from Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay were drawn into eight ties. *North Zone: The 16 teams from Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela were drawn into eight ties. Teams which qualified for berths 1 were drawn against teams which qualified for berths 4, and teams which qualified for berths 2 were drawn against teams which qualified for berths 3, with the former hosting the second leg in both cases. Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same tie. For the second stage, the 30 teams, including the 16 winners of the first stage (eight from South Zone, eight from North Zone), whose identity was not known at the time of the draw, and the 14 teams which entered the second stage, were divided into three sections: *Winners of the first stage: The 16 winners of the first stage were drawn into eight ties, with the order of legs decided by draw. Teams from the same association could be drawn into the same tie. *Brazil: The eight teams from Brazil were drawn into four ties. Teams which qualified for berths 1–4 were drawn against teams which qualified for berths 5–8, with the former hosting the second leg. *Argentina: The six teams from Argentina were drawn into three ties. Teams which qualified for berths 1–3 were drawn against teams which qualified for berths 4–6, with the former hosting the second leg.

Schedule

The schedule of the competition was as follows (all dates listed were Wednesdays, but matches could also be played on Tuesdays and Thursdays as well). ;Notes

Elimination stages

In the elimination stages (first stage and second stage), each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. If tied on aggregate, 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 ...

was used. If still tied, the

penalty shoot-out 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 ...

was used to determine the winner (no

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

was played). The 15 winners of the second stage (eight from winners of the first stage, four from Brazil, three from Argentina) advanced to the

round of 16 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

to join the defending champions ( River Plate).

First stage

Second stage

Final stages

In the final stages, the 16 teams played a

single-elimination tournament A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

, with the following rules: *Each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis, with the higher-seeded team hosting the second leg. *In the round of 16, quarterfinals, and semifinals, if tied on aggregate, the

would be used. If still tied, the

would be used to determine the winner (no

would be played). *In the finals, if tied on aggregate, the

would not be used, and 30 minutes of

would be played. If still tied after extra time, the

would be used to determine the winner. *If there were two semifinalists from the same association, they would have to play each other. The qualified teams were seeded in the final stages according to the draw of the tournament, with each team assigned a "seed" 1–16 by draw.

Bracket

Round of 16

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Since there were two semifinalists from Argentina, they had to play each other instead of their original opponents as determined by the seeding.

Finals

The finals were played on a home-and-away two-legged basis, with the higher-seeded team hosting the second leg. If tied on aggregate, the