2016 Copa Libertadores Femenina

2016 Copa Libertadores Femenina
2016 Copa Libertadores de América Femenina
Tournament details
Host country	Uruguay
Dates	6–20 December 2016
Teams	12 (from 10 associations)
Venue(s)	2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Sportivo Limpeño (1st title)
Runners-up	Estudiantes de Guárico
Third place	Foz Cataratas
Fourth place	Colón
Tournament statistics
Matches played	22
Goals scored	63 (2.86 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Oriana Altuve; Manuela González; (4 goals each)

The 2016 Copa Libertadores Femenina was the eighth edition of the Copa Libertadores Femenina, South America's premier women's club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. The tournament was played in Uruguay from 6 to 20 December 2016.[1]

In the first final without a team from Brazil, Paraguayan team Sportivo Limpeño won their first title against Estudiantes de Guárico from Venezuela.[2]

Teams

The competition was contested by 12 teams: the champions of all ten CONMEBOL associations were given one entry, additionally the title holders re-entered and the host association qualified one more team.[3] The qualifying competitions of each association usually end late in the year (September to December). The Colombian tournament finished last, in fact only a week after the final draw was made. With Generaciones Palmiranas qualifying from Colombia it was the first time the Copa Libertadores was held without Formas Íntimas, who were the only team from that country to have played in all previous editions.

Association	Team	Qualifying method	Participation	Best result
Argentina	UAI Urquiza	2016 Campeonato Argentino champions[4]	2nd	3rd place (2015)
Bolivia	San Martín de Porres	2016 Campeonato Boliviano champions[5]	2nd	Group stage (2015)
Brazil	Ferroviária	Title holder (2015 champions)[6]	2nd	Champions (2015)
Brazil	Foz Cataratas	2015 Copa do Brasil de Futebol Feminino third place[7][note 1]	3rd	Runners-up (2012)
Chile	Colo-Colo	2015 Apertura and Clausura champions play-off winners[10]	6th	Champions (2012)
Colombia	Generaciones Palmiranas	2016 Campeonato Nacional Interclubes winners[11]	1st	—
Ecuador	Unión Española	2015 Campeonato Ecuatoriano champions[12]	1st	—
Paraguay	Sportivo Limpeño	2015 Campeonato Paraguayo champions[13]	1st	—
Peru	Universitario	2016 Campeonato Peruano champions[14]	2nd	Group stage (2015)
Uruguay	Colón	2015 Copa de Oro winners[15][16]	3rd	Group stage (2014, 2015)
Uruguay	Nacional	2015 Copa de Oro runners-up[17]	4th	Group stage (2011, 2012, 2013)
Venezuela	Estudiantes de Guárico	2016 Apertura winners[18]	3rd	Group stage (2013, 2015)

Notes

The 2015 Copa do Brasil de Futebol Feminino champions should have qualified for the Copa Libertadores.[8] However, the champions Kindermann folded, and the runners-up Ferroviária already qualified as title holders. The Brazilian Football Confederation offered the Copa Libertadores berth to the third place Foz Cataratas, instead of the 2015 Campeonato Brasileiro de Futebol Feminino champions, Rio Preto.[9]

Venues

Colonia

Montevideo

Stadia locations

Matches were played in the Estadio Charrúa in Montevideo and the Estadio Profesor Alberto Suppici in Colonia del Sacramento.[19]

Match officials

One referee plus two assistant referees were announced from every association to officiate the matches.[20]

Format

There were no format changes to the previous seasons. The teams were drawn into three groups of four, where each group was played on a round-robin basis. The winners of each group and the best runners-up advanced to the semifinals, which were played on a single-elimination basis, with the following matchups:

Group A winners vs. Group B winners
Group C winners vs. Best runners-up

The semifinal winners and losers play in the final and third place match respectively.[21]

Draw

The draw of the tournament was held on 16 November 2016, 19:30 UTC−3, at the headquarters of the Uruguayan Football Association.[22] The 12 teams were drawn into three groups of four containing one team from each of the four seeding pots. The host teams Colon and Nacional and the title holder Ferroviaria were seeded to Group A, B and C respectively.[23] The other teams were seeded based on the results of their association in the 2015 Copa Libertadores Femenina.[21]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Colón Nacional Ferroviária	Foz Cataratas Colo-Colo UAI Urquiza	Colombia 1[note2 1] Estudiantes de Guárico Sportivo Limpeño	San Martín de Porres Unión Española Universitario

Notes

The draw was held before the identity of the team from Colombia (Generaciones Palmiranas) was known.

Group stage

The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers would be applied in the following order (Regulations Article 17.1):[21]

Goal difference in all games;
Goals scored in all games;
Head-to-head result in games between tied teams;
Penalty shoot-out if two teams tied having playing last game against each other;
Drawing of lots.

All times UYT (UTC−3).[24]

Group A

Colón advanced to the knock-out stage as best runners-up. It was the first time in the competition history that a team from Uruguay advanced from the group stage.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Sportivo Limpeño	3	2	1	0	7	2	+5	7	Knockout stage
2	Colón (H)	3	2	0	1	8	4	+4	6	Knockout stage
3	UAI Urquiza	3	1	1	1	3	2	+1	4
4	Universitario	3	0	0	3	0	10	−10	0

Source: CONMEBOL
(H) Host.

6 December 2016