The 21st edition of the South American Cup will deliver this Saturday in the Argentine city of Córdoba, scene of the final between Sao Paulo and Independiente del Valle, the juiciest loot in its history for the champion: 5 million dollars, which is added to the different prizes awarded throughout the competition.
The appointment at the Mario Alberto Kempes stadium, will be the farewell to an edition that distributed prizes for a total of 59,960,000 dollars, which position the Copa Sudamericana as the second most important tournament in the region, below the Copa Libertadores, longest and with higher prizes.
“IN CRESCEND”
This contest, which celebrated two decades this year, allocated $225,000 as a prize for each game played in Phase 1 and $300,000 for the group stage.
Those eliminated received $120,000.
The purse per game played rose to $500,000 in the Round of 16, $600,000 in the Quarterfinals and $800,000 in the Semifinals.
The champion will be able to pocket 5 million dollars and the runner-up 2 million.
In addition, the winning team secures a place in the group stage of the Copa Libertadores in 2023, which delivers 3 million dollars for participation, according to the amount set for this year.
You will also be able to play the Recopa 2023 with the champion of the Copa Libertadores. This competition awards $1.6 million to the club that wins the title and $800,000 to the second.
And although this year’s prizes are the largest since the Copa Sudamericana was first played in 2002, it was in January 2021 that the South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) gave the prizes a boost.
At that time, Conmebol announced that the total sum to distribute that year in the different phases would rise by 25% compared to 2020, while the competition expanded the scheduled matches from 105 to 157.
The decision meant raising the global prize pool from $47.2 million to $58,960,000.
WHAT ABOUT THE HOSTS?
This year, Córdoba repeats as host of a South American Cup final, after the one it hosted in 2020, when the Argentine club Defensa y Justicia was crowned champion by beating its compatriot Lanús 3-0.
Without mentioning figures, a Conmebol source told Efe that the final of a tournament like this “represents an important injection of resources for the host city: from organizational and logistical investments – which begin months before the game – to the mobilization of thousands of fans in the previous days”.
He adds that among the benefited sectors are the hotel industry, commerce, transport and gastronomy. Without forgetting that the television broadcast, which, according to Conmebol, reaches “close to 200 countries and territories”, is also a showcase to show the host city to the world.
