The Copa Simón Bolívar (

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

: ''Simon Bolivar Cup'') was an international football competition organized by the

Venezuelan Football Federation The Venezuelan Football Federation ( es, link=no, Federación Venezolana de Fútbol or FVF) is the governing body of football in Venezuela. It was founded in 1925 and affiliated in 1952. It is a member of CONMEBOL as well as FIFA, and is in c ...

.Copa Simón Bolívar Files
/ref> The idea of this competition was to create a tournament among the champions clubs of the countries liberated by

Simon Bolivar Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genu ...

. It was played six times from its first edition in 1970 to the last in 1976, thus integrating the league champions clubs of

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 ...

, Colombia,

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

and Bolivia. Due to its format, it was a historical precedent of the

Copa Merconorte The Copa Merconorte () was an international football competition organized by CONMEBOL from 1998 to 2001 by clubs from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela and starting in 2000 clubs from the CONCACAF confederation were invited in ...

, played between the same Bolivarian countries or the

Andean Community The Andean Community ( es, Comunidad Andina, CAN) is a free trade area with the objective of creating a customs union comprising the South American countries of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. The trade bloc was called the Andean Pact ...

from 1998 until the 2001 edition. It is an official tournament to be organized by a football federation member of the CONMEBOL (in this case the Venezuelan federation), in addition to which it had continuity for several years. Although the South American Football Confederation endorsed it at the time, is not included in the list of competitions organised by the entity as they are not the direct organisers of the tournament, however, the competition was very important for the time and was cited by various sports media as a relevant international title, so much so that the president of the entity at the time, Teófilo Salinas, officially delivered the cup. It was not organized by CONMEBOL or FIFA, similar to the case of the old River Plate tournaments such as the

Copa Aldao The Copa Ricardo Aldao (English: ''Ricardo Aldao Cup''), popularly called Campeonato Rioplatense and Copa Río de La Plata, was an official AFA- AUF football club competition contested annually, albeit irregularly, between the league champions of ...

, which is also considered official. Other examples are in Europe where the Copa Latina, Copa Mitropa, or the Copa de Ferias were played that were not organized 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 were also considered official competitions at the time, although these are endorsed by FIFA. The titles list is led by six teams belonging to three federations, while the teams of the Colombian federation lead the list by winning federations with three titles, followed by the Peruvian federation with two titles and the Venezuelan federation with a single title.

History

The tournament began in 1970 on the initiative of the

and initially counting on the support and participation of the Colombian clubs affiliated to the Colombian Football Major Division, the governing body of the Colombian league and which even created previous qualification systems to the tournament Tolima Boys Tournament Champion
/ref> in the first three editions only included clubs from Colombia and

, from 1975 representatives of

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

joined, Bolivia and

; the tournament was discontinued in 1976 for calendar and economic reasons. It is recognized as a predecessor of the

that was played by these same countries of northern

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 ...

. The reasons for the disappearance of the event were written by journalist José Visconti, for the newspaper El Nacional:

History

List of champions

Performances

By club

By country

See also

References