Copa Sudamericana

The Copa Sudamericana (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈkopa suðameɾiˈkana]; Portuguese: Copa Sul-Americana [ˈkɔpɐ ˈsuw ɐmeɾiˈkɐnɐ]) is an annual international club football competition organized by the CONMEBOL since 2002. It is the second most prestigious club competition in South American football. CONCACAF clubs were invited between 2004 and 2008. The Copa Sudamerican began in 2002, replacing the separate competitions Copa Merconorte and Copa Mercosur (that before replaced Copa Conmebol) by a single competition. Since its introduction, the competition has been a pure elimination tournament with the number of rounds and teams varying from year to year.

The Copa Sudamericana is considered a merger of defunct tournaments such as the Copa CONMEBOL, Copa Mercosur and Copa Merconorte. The winner of the Copa Sudamericana becomes eligible to play in the Recopa Sudamericana. They also gain entry onto the next edition of the Copa Libertadores, South America's premier club competition. They also contest the Suruga Bank Championship.

2016 Copa Sudamericana

The 2016 Copa Sudamericana (Portuguese: 2016 Copa Sul-Americana) will be the 15th edition of the Copa Sudamericana, South America's secondary club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. The winner will qualify for the 2017 Copa Libertadores, the 2017 Recopa Sudamericana, and the 2017 Suruga Bank Championship. Santa Fe are the defending champions.

Teams

The following 47 teams from the 10 CONMEBOL member associations qualified for the tournament:

Among them, 32 teams (from the eight associations other than Argentina and Brazil, excluding the title holders) are entered in the first stage, 14 teams (from Argentina and Brazil, excluding the title holders) are entered in the second stage, and the title holders are entered in the round of 16.

COPA

COPA may stand for:

Copa may refer to:

Atlético Nacional

Club Atlético Nacional S. A., also known as Atlético Nacional, is a professional Colombian football team based in Medellín, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. Considered to be one of the strongest clubs from Colombia, it is one of the most consistent clubs in the country.

The club was founded on 7 March 1947 by former president of the league of Antioquia, Luis Alberto Villegas López. The club was first placed under the name of Club Atlético Municipal de Medellín. In 1996, the company in which administrated the club, Organización Ardila Lülle, officially acquired Nacional. Many Colombian legends have originated from Nacional such as René Higuita, Juan Camilo Zúñiga, Iván Córdoba, Juan Pablo Ángel, David Ospina and most noticeably, Andrés Escobar and Víctor Aristizábal, among many others.

They play their home games at the Atanasio Girardot stadium, with a capacity of over 40,000. They share the same stadium with local bitter rivals, Independiente Medellín, said rivalry is known as El Clásico Paisa. Infamous for its aggressive background, it is considered to be one of the most important derbies in Colombia, as well as one of the most important in South America. All while being recognized by FIFA as a 'classic' match-up. Nacional is also known to have rivalries with Millonarios by the El Clásico de la rivalidad regional derby, and América de Cali. Although these rivalries are based on rivaling success; with Millonarios originally being the club that had the most domestic trophies before Nacional surpassed their count in 2015, whereas America has met with Nacional on numerous occasions during league/cup finals.