The 2002 Copa Sudamericana was the inaugural

Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, also known as Copa Sudamericana (; ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL, the governing body of football in South America, since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club com ...

, a club

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

tournament organized by

CONMEBOL CONMEBOL ( ) or CSF (; ; ), is the continental governing body of football in South America and it is one of FIFA's six continental confederations. The oldest continental confederation in the world, its headquarters are located in Luque, Parag ...

. It took place between August 28 and December 11. After the failure in creating a Pan-American Cup to be played among teams from the entire

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

continent, CONMEBOL decided to create another tournament bearing the continent's name. Nine association's clubs entered the first competition, with one not sending a representative; Brazilian clubs did not participate due to the late organization of the tournament and schedule conflicts. The first match of the competition took place between Venezuelan sides

Deportivo Táchira ''Deportivo'' (Spanish, 'sporting') may refer to: * Deportivo de La Coruña, commonly known as simply Deportivo, a Spanish football club * Déportivo, a French rock band * Deportivo (Mexicable) Mexicable is an aerial lift line in Ecatepec de ...

and

Monagas Monagas State (, ) is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. Monagas State covers a total surface area of and, as of the 2011 census, had a population of 905,443. Monagas State is surrounded by Sucre State in the north, Anzoátegui State in the ...

in San Cristóbal,

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

. During the match, Carlos Bravo became the first player to score a goal in the competition.

Pierre Webó Pierre Achille Webó Kouamo (born 20 January 1982) is a Cameroonian former professional footballer who played as a striker. He spent eight years of his career in La Liga, totalling 227 matches for Osasuna and Mallorca and scoring 47 goals (in ...

, a player from

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

playing for

Nacional Nacional, the Portuguese and Spanish word for "national", may refer to: Airlines * Nacional Transportes Aéreos, a Brazilian airline defunct in 2002 * Transportes Aéreos Nacional, a Brazilian airline defunct in 1961 Bank * Banco Nacional, a ...

, became the first non-South American topscorer of any South American tournament.

San Lorenzo San Lorenzo is the Italian and Spanish name for Saint Lawrence, the 3rd-century Christian martyr, and may refer to: Places Argentina * San Lorenzo, Santa Fe * San Lorenzo Department, Chaco * Villa San Lorenzo, town and municipality in Salta P ...

, invited for being the winners of the

2001 Copa Mercosur The Copa Mercosur 2001 was the 4th and last season of the Copa Mercosur, CONMEBOL's club tournament. The competition started on 21 July 2001 and concluded on 24 January 2002 with San Lorenzo beating Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo ...

, won the competition after thrashing

Atlético Nacional Atlético Nacional S. A., best known as Atlético Nacional, is a Colombian professional football club based in Medellín. The club is one of only three clubs to have played in every first division tournament in the country's history, the other ...

4–0 on aggregate and became the first winners of the Copa Sudamericana.

Qualified teams

First stage

Second stage

, - !colspan="5", Quarterfinalist 1 , - !colspan="5", Quarterfinalist 3 , - !colspan="5", Quarterfinalist 5 , - !colspan="5", Quarterfinalist 2 , - !colspan="5", Quarterfinalist 7 , - !colspan="5", Quarterfinalist 6 , - !colspan="5", Quarterfinalist 4 , - !colspan="5", Quarterfinalist 8

Final stages

Teams from the Quarterfinals onwards will be seeded depending on which First Round tie they win (i.e. the winner of Match D1 will have the 1 seed).

Quarterfinals

Eight teams advanced to the quarterfinals from the first round. The first leg of the quarterfinals took place the week of October 1, with the second leg taking place the week of October 30. In each tie, the team with the higher seed will play at home in the second leg.

Semifinals

The first leg of the semifinals took place the week of November 5, with the second leg taking place the week of November 13.

Finals

In the finals, if the finalists are tied on points after the culmination of the second leg, the winner will be the team who scored the most goals. If they are tied on goals, the game will move onto a

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 ...

if necessary. ----

References

External links

Copa Sudamericana 2002
Archived URL {{Copa Sudamericana seasons 2 Copa Sudamericana seasons