The Women’s Copa Libertadores begins this Thursday and will test the hegemony in this competition of the Brazilian teams, who have won ten of the thirteen editions played, including the last three. Olimpia and Libertad/Limpeño represent Paraguay.
In this edition of the continental tournament, whichand will take place in Quito from October 13 to 28attend three Brazilian teams, two Colombians, two Ecuadorians, two Paraguayans, two Chileans, one Argentine, one Bolivian, one Peruvian, one Uruguayan and one Venezuelan.
Among the participating teams there are three champions such as Brazilian Corinthians (2017, 2019 and 2021) and Ferroviária (2015 and 2020) and Paraguayan Libertad Limpeño (2016), whatand together they treasure six titles of the highest club competition in South American women’s football.
Corinthians, three times champion of the Women’s Copa Libertadoreswill go for his fourth crown and will have to apply himself thoroughly from the beginning, as he will debut against Colombian Deportivo Cali, who faces his second participation in the tournament with the ambition of overcoming the quarterfinals reached last year.
Both Corinthians and Deportivo Cali are in Group A, along with Olympia and the Bolivian Always Ready, both debutants in the competition after having won their respective national leagues.
In Group B, Boca Juniors and Ferroviária start as favorites to advance to the quarterfinals, but they will have to prove it against the Ecuadorian Ñañas, who will play at home, and the Uruguayan Defensor Sporting, another debutant team in the tournament.
From Group C, Libertad Limpeño will seek to repeat the feat achieved in 2016 when he was proclaimed champion of the Libertadoresalthough in this phase it will be seen with rivals that can become revelations such as Palmeiras, Universidad de Chile and the Dragonas del Independiente del Valle.
Although Palmeiras is a debutant in the Cup, it is runner-up in the Brazilian league that Corinthians conquered, while Universidad de Chile reached fourth place in 2020 and the Ecuadorian Dragonas, although it is a new team, has the philosophy of ‘Matagigantes’ of the that the men’s team has shown.
América de Cali will try to make up for the lost final in 2020 and will start in Group D, against Santiago Morning, Alianza Lima and Deportivo Lara, champions of their respective countries and with recent outstanding performances in the Cup such as that of Alianza, which came to quarters in 2021.
Some teams arrive at this tournament depleted by the celebration of the U-17 World Cup in India and the South American Games in Asunción at the same time.
This is particularly the case of Deportivo Cali, which will not be able to have the youth striker Linda Caicedo, chosen as the best player in the last Women’s Copa América and currently concentrated with the Colombian team to play the U-17 World Cup.
The group stage matches will be played at the Independiente del Valle stadium and at the Gonzalo Pozo Ripalda stadium, the home of Aucas; while the stage for the final phase will be the Rodrigo Paz Delgado stadium, where Liga de Quito plays as a local.
If Corinthians won its fourth Women’s Copa Libertadores, it would become the club with the most titles, but if Ferroviária does, it would be tied for three titles with Sao Jose, also Brazilian.
Since 2019 all the champions have been Braziliansince the last champion from a different country was the Colombian Atlético Huila in 2018. Both América de Cali and Santa Fe were left at the gates of emulating their compatriots in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
