The Copa Sudamericana returned to action this week with the knockout round play-offs. Following the conclusion of the group stage at the end of May, South America’s version of the Europa League returned with 16 teams in action, beginning on Tuesday.
Road to the Knockouts
Starting in the knockout round play-offs, each matchup is played across a home-and-away two-legged tie until the final—a single match at the Estadio Metropolitano Roberto Meléndez in Barranquilla, Colombia.
The 24 participating teams are seeded based on their group stage results
- Seeds 1-8: Copa Sudamericana group winners
- Seeds 9-16: Copa Sudamericana group runners-up
- Seeds 17-24: Copa Libertadores third-place teams
Seeds 1 through 8 automatically advance to the Round of 16, while seeds 9 through 24 compete in the play-off round.
Standout Performances
Tuesday started with two big road wins, with Argentinian side Tigre winning 3-0 in Montevideo. This was followed by a dominant 4-1 win for Santos, on the road in Venezuela without their star player Neymar.
Wednesday continued with two draws (Independiente Medellin 2-2 Vasco Gama & Sporting Cristal 0-0 Red Bull Bragantino), alongside a comfortable 2-0 win for Lanus at home vs. Cienciano.
Thursday night concluded with three home victories, with Bolivar (3-2 vs. Gremio), Boca Juniors (1-0 vs. O’Higgins), and Santa Fe (2-0 vs. Caracas) all picking up great first-leg wins.
Below are the full results for the first leg of the play-off round:
| Home vs. Away | Final Score |
|---|---|
| Nacional vs Tigre | 0–3 |
| Universidad Central vs Santos FC | 1–4 |
| Independiente Medellín vs Vasco da Gama | 2–2 |
| Lanús vs Cienciano | 2–0 |
| Sporting Cristal vs Red Bull Bragantino | 0–0 |
| Bolívar vs Grêmio | 3–2 |
| Boca Juniors vs O’Higgins | 1–0 |
| Santa Fe vs Caracas | 2–0 |
From the eight teams that dropped from the Copa Libertadores, just four of them won their home leg games.
Below is the schedule for the second leg of the play-off round:
- Nacional vs. Tigre — July 28
- Universidad Central vs. Santos — July 28
- Lanús vs. Cienciano — July 29
- Sporting Cristal vs. Red Bull Bragantino — July 29
- Independiente Medellín vs. Vasco da Gama — July 29
- Boca Juniors vs. O’Higgins — July 30
- Bolívar vs. Grêmio — July 30
- Santa Fe vs. Caracas — July 30
The eight play-off round winners will face the eight group winners, which were seeded based on their total points from the Group Stage.
- No. 8 seed Recoleta will play the winner of Boca Juniors vs. O’Higgins
- No. 5 seed Sao Paulo will play the winner of Bolívar vs. Grêmio
- No. 4 seed Olimpia will play the winner of Independiente Medellín vs. Vasco da Gama
- No. 2 seed River Plate will play the winner of Santa Fe vs. Caracas
- No. 7 seed Atlético Mineiro will play the winner of Sporting Cristal vs. Red Bull Bragantino
- No. 6 seed Macará will play the winner of Universidad Central vs. Santos
- No. 1 seed Botafogo will play the winner of Lanús vs. Cienciano
- No. 3 seed Montevideo City Torque will play the winner of Nacional vs. Tigre
