2008 Copa Libertadores
| Copa Santander Libertadores de América 2008 Copa Santander Libertadores da América 2008 |
|
|---|---|
| Tournament details | |
| Dates | January 29–July 2 |
| Teams | 38 (from 11 associations) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |
 LDU Quito (1st title)
|
| Runners-up |
 Fluminense
|
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 138 |
| Goals scored | 358 (2.59 per match) |
| Attendance | 2,959,170 (21,443 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |
 Salvador Cabañas Marcelo Moreno Martins(8 goals each) |
| Best player |
Joffre Guerrón
|
The 2008 Copa Libertadores de América was the 49th edition of the Copa Libertadores, CONMEBOL's premier annual international club tournament. This marked the first year the competition was sponsored by Spanish bank Santander. As such, the competition is officially the 2008 Copa Santander Libertadores de América for sponsorship reasons. The draw took place on December 19, 2007 in Asunción.
Ecuadorian club LDU Quito won the competition for the first time in a final decided on penalties. It is the first time a team from Ecuador has won the competition. LDU Quito earned a berth in the 2008 FIFA Club World Cup and 2009 Recopa Sudamericana.
Thirty-eight teams qualified for the competition, with twenty-six teams directly qualifying to the Second Stage and twelve entering in the First Stage. Seven countries sent their Apertura champions and Clausura champions for their first two berths. The remaining berth, or berths in Argentina's case, went to the best-placed non-champions shown by an aggregate table. Brazil's league uses a European-style format and thus does not have an Apertura and Clausura tournament. Therefore, they sent their cup champion and the best four of the Brazilian Serie A. Ecuador sent the top three finishers of their national tournament as determined by the Liguilla Final. Uruguay had a Mini-League (Liguilla) to determine who qualified, and Mexico usespecially the InterLiga to determine two of its qualifiers. The last qualified team in each country played in the First Stage; the defending champion's country had two teams in the first stage because the defending champion automatically qualified.
The calendar shows the dates of the rounds and draw.
Teams at every stage of the tournament will be awarded points depending on the result of a game: 3 for a win, 1 for a draw, 0 for a loss. The following criteria will be used for breaking ties on points:
For the First Stage, Round of 16, Quarterfinals, and Semifinals, the fourth criteria is replaced by a penalty shoot-out if necessary. The Finals have their own set of criteria; see the finals section for more details.
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Wikipedia