The 2012 Copa Sudamericana de Clubes (officially the 2012 Copa

Bridgestone is a Japanese multinational tire manufacturer founded in 1931 by Shojiro Ishibashi (1889–1976) in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan. The name Bridgestone comes from a calque translation and transposition of , meaning 'stone bridge' in Japa ...

Sudamericana de Clubes for sponsorship reasons) was the 11th 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 sou ...

's secondary international 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 ...

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, Surina ...

. The tournament was expanded from 39 teams to 47 teams, allowing the eight associations other than Argentina and Brazil to each enter four teams instead of three teams.

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.

were the defending champions, but lost to eventual champion,

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 GaW ...

in the quarterfinals. Brazilian club

were crowned as the champion after defeating Argentine club Tigre in the finals. Having already qualified for the 2013 Libertadores Cup (for being 4th in the 2012 Brazilian League),

, after winning the 2012 Sudamericana Cup, will also dispute the 2013 Recopa Cup (Championship played between the

Libertadores Cup The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in So ...

champion and the Sudamericana Cup champion) and the 2013 Suruga Cup.

Qualified teams

Draw

The draw was held on June 29, 2012 (postponed from original date of June 26), 12:00 UTC−04:00 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 t ...

. The tournament is played in single-elimination format, with each tie played over two legs. The draw mechanism was as follows: ;First Stage *The 32 teams from the eight countries other than Argentina and Brazil, excluding the defending champion, were drawn against each other. The teams were divided into South Zone (Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia) and North Zone (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela). Teams which qualified through berths 1 were drawn against teams which qualified through berths 4, and teams which qualified through berths 2 were drawn against teams which qualified through berths 3, with the former playing the second leg at home. ;Second Stage *The 16 winners of the First Stage were drawn against each other, where a winner from the South Zone were drawn against a winner from the North Zone. *The 6 teams from Argentina 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 8 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 (the defending champion and the winners from Argentina and Brazil were assigned even "seeds", the winners from the other eight countries were assigned odd "seeds"). The "seeding" was used to determine the bracket of the final stages, with the higher-seeded team playing the second leg at home in each tie.

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 July 24 and ended on August 23. ''Team 1'' played the second leg at home. , - !colspan=6, South Zone , - !colspan=6, North Zone

Second stage

The Second Stage began on July 31 and ended on September 20.

Final stages

Teams from the Round of 16 onwards are 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, Universidad de Chile, was assigned the 10 seed).

Bracket

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

Round of 16

The Round of 16 began on September 25 and ended on October 25. ''Team 1'' played the second leg at home. , -

Quarterfinals

The Quarterfinals began on October 30 and ended on November 15. ''Team 1'' played the second leg at home. , -

Semifinals

The Semifinals began on November 22 and ended on November 29. ''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 Point or points may refer to: Places * Point, Lewis, a peninsula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Point, Texas, a city in Rains County, Texas, United States * Point, the NE tip and a ferry terminal of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, Scotland * Points ...

and

goal difference Goal difference, goal differential or points difference is a form of tiebreaker used to rank sport teams which finish on equal points in a league competition. Either "goal difference" or "points difference" is used, depending on whether matches a ...

at the end of regulation in the second leg, the

away goals rule The away goals rule is a method of 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 team that ...

would not be applied and 30 minutes of

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 only ...

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 ...

. ---- São Paulo won on points 4–1.

Top goalscorers

Awards

Player of the week

References

External links

Official webpage
{{2012 in South American Football (CONMEBOL) 2

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...