Copa Interamericana

Copa Interamericana
Interamerican Cup

The trophy given to champions
Organising body	CONCACAF & CONMEBOL
Founded	1968
Abolished	1998 (1998)
Region	North America South America
Number of teams	2
Related competitions	Copa Libertadores CONCACAF Champions League
Last champions	D.C. United (1° title)
Most successful club(s)	Independiente (3 titles)

The Copa Interamericana (English: Interamerican Cup) was an annual club football competition organized by the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) and Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (CONMEBOL) since 1969. It was discontinued in 1998 after CONCACAF clubs, particularly those from Mexico, began participating in CONMEBOL competitions. The Interamerican Cup was founded as a result of the refusal from CONMEBOL and the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) of allowing CONCACAF clubs, as well as those from other confederations, to participate in the European/South American Cup, later known as the Toyota Cup and informally called the Intercontinental Cup.

The competition was supposed to be contested between the winners of the North American CONCACAF Champions Cup and the South American Copa Libertadores tournaments although the participants have varied at times. The format of the competition was extremely sporadic. From its formation, the competition was usually contested over a two legged tie, with a playoff if necessary until 1968, and penalty kicks later. However, it was common for several consecutive editions to go undisputed. Of the 17 competitions played, four of them were disputed over several matches in just one venue. Two others were held in a single match. Another two editions had participants that had not qualified outright to dispute the competition. Most of the editions were disputed one, and sometimes two, years after the participants had qualified to dispute it. This was the result of the lack of financial incentives and the low relevance of the competition.

The 17 Interamerican Cup tournaments were won by 13 club teams. Argentine side Independiente won a record three titles. The last winner of the cup was American side D.C. United, defeating Brazilian side Vasco da Gama 2-1 on aggregate in 1998. Argentina was the most successful national league with seven titles, while Uruguayan outfit Nacional and Independiente share the record for the most appearances with three each.

History

In 1969, an agreement came between the confederations of South America (CONMEBOL) and Central and North America (CONCACAF) to dispute an annual competition, the Interamerican Cup, which pitted the champions of those two confederations in a format similar to the Intercontinental Cup. The first edition was disputed between Estudiantes and Mexican club Toluca in which each team won 2-1 in their away legs. The playoff in Montevideo proved to be the tie-breaker as Estudiantes won a violent match 2-0. This promising start did little to help the competition; due to the difference in interests between the clubs involved, the Interamerican Cup had an even more sporadic lifeline than the Intercontinental Cup; sometimes, years would go without it being played. The second edition was played four years later, in 1971, which saw Nacional edge Mexican side Cruz Azul 3-2 on aggregate. Independiente would become the only club to win the competition three times in a row, from 1972 to 1974, after seeing off Honduran club Olimpia, Guatemalan club Municipal and Mexican side Atlético Español, the last two after a penalty shoot-out. Mexico's América broke the South American hegemony after beating Boca Juniors in a play-off match in 1977. As a result of this victory, the Mexican squad argued that it had the right to participate in the Intercontinental Cup of that year; however, they were denied the opportunity. Paraguay's Olimpia returned the trophy back south in 1980 with a victory over El Salvador's FAS but Club Universidad Nacional of Mexico City defeating Uruguay's Nacional to win CONCACAF's second title.

The competition entered a state of hiatus again, this time for five years. In 1986, Argentinos Juniors would defeat Defence Force of Trinidad and Tobago in a single-match final. River Plate would keep the trophy in Argentina, for the second year running, defeating Costa Rican side Alajuelense. Uruguay's Nacional would trounce Honduras' Olimpia 5-1 on aggregate the following year. Colombia's Atlético Nacional made short work of Club Universidad Nacional; however, South America hegemony would once again be broken by América after defeating Paraguay's Olimpia. Compatriots Puebla failed to retain the trophy in Mexico after being routed by Chile's Colo-Colo. The importance of the competition decreased significantly after two Brazilian clubs, Copa Libertadores winners São Paulo (1993) and Grêmio (1995) declined to participate out of disinterest; both times, the Copa Libertadores runners-up, Chilean side Universidad Católica and Atlético Nacional took their place; each of them were pushed to the limit by Costa Rica's Saprissa. Vélez Sársfield beat Costa Rican club Cartaginés in 1994 while the last Interamerican Cup, held in 1998, saw American club D.C. United beat Vasco da Gama.

The Interamerican Cup was abolished in 1998 when Mexican clubs began to participate in the Copa Libertadores and other CONCACAF teams participated in the Copa Sudamericana. Since 2000, when FIFA adopted the Club World Championship format clash between the champions of all continental confederations, the champions of CONCACAF and CONMEBOL again have the opportunity to meet.

Winners

Finals

Year	Country	Winner	Agg/Score	Runner-up	Country	1st leg	2nd leg	Playoff
1969	ARG	Estudiantes	3–3	Toluca	MEX	2–1	1–2	3–0
1972	URU	Nacional	3–2	Cruz Azul	MEX	1–1	2–1	—
1973	ARG	Independiente	4–1	Olimpia	HON	2–1	2–0	—
1974	ARG	Independiente	1–1*	Municipal	GUA	0–1	1–0	—
1976	ARG	Independiente	2–2*	Español	MEX	2–2	0–0	—
1978	MEX	América	1–3†	Boca Juniors	ARG	0–3	1–0	2–1 (a.e.t.)
1980	PAR	Olimpia	8–3	FAS	SLV	3–3	5–0	—
1981	MEX	UNAM	4–4	Nacional	URU	3–1	1–3	2–1
1986	ARG	Argentinos Juniors	1–0	Defence Force	TRI	1–0	—	—
1987	ARG	River Plate	3–0	Alajuelense	CRC	0–0	3–0	—
1989	URU	Nacional	5–1	Olimpia	HON	1–1	4–0	—
1990	COL	Atlético Nacional	6–1	UNAM	MEX	2–0	4–1	—
1991	MEX	América	3–2	Olimpia	PAR	1–1	2–1	—
1992	CHI	Colo-Colo	7–2	Puebla	MEX	4–1	3–1	—
1994	CHI	Universidad Católica	6–4	Saprissa	CRC	1–3	5–1	—
1996	ARG	Vélez Sársfield	2–0	Cartaginés	CRC	0–0	2–0	—
1997	COL	Atlético Nacional	3–2	Saprissa	CRC	3–2	—	—
1998	USA	D.C. United	2–1	Vasco da Gama	BRA	0–1	2–0	—

Statistics

By team

Team	Winner	Runner-up	Years won	Years runner-up
Independiente	3	0	1973, 1974, 1976
Nacional	2	1	1972, 1989	1981
América	2	0	1978, 1991
Atlético Nacional	2	0	1990, 1997
Olimpia	1	1	1980	1991
UNAM	1	1	1981	1990
Estudiantes	1	0	1969
Argentinos Juniors	1	0	1986
River Plate	1	0	1987
Colo-Colo	1	0	1992
Universidad Católica	1	0	1994
Vélez Sársfield	1	0	1996
D.C. United	1	0	1998
Olimpia	0	2		1973, 1989
Saprissa	0	2		1994, 1997
Municipal	0	1		1974
Atlético Español	0	1		1976
Boca Juniors	0	1		1978
FAS	0	1		1980
Defence Force	0	1		1986
Alajuelense	0	1		1987
Puebla F.C.	0	1		1992
Cartaginés	0	1		1996
Vasco da Gama	0	1		1998

By nation

Nation	Winners	Runners-Up	Winning Clubs	Runners-Up
Argentina	7	1	Independiente (3), Argentinos Juniors (1), Estudiantes (1), River Plate (1), Vélez Sársfield (1)	Boca Juniors (1)
Mexico	3	5	América (2), UNAM (1)	Español (1), Cruz Azul (1), Puebla (1), UNAM (1), Toluca (1)
Chile	2	0	Colo-Colo (1), Universidad Católica (1)
Colombia	2	0	Atlético Nacional (2)
Uruguay	2	1	Nacional (2)	Nacional (1)
Paraguay	1	1	Olimpia (1)	Olimpia (1)
United States	1	0	D.C. United (1)
Costa Rica	0	4		Alajuelense (1), Cartaginés (1), Saprissa (2)
Honduras	0	2		Olimpia (2)
Brazil	0	1		Vasco da Gama (1)
El Salvador	0	1		FAS (1)
Guatemala	0	1		Municipal (1)
Trinidad and Tobago	0	1		Defence Force (1)

See also

• International club competition records

References

• Copa Interamericana at RSSSF