The 2016 Copa Libertadores de América (officially the 2016 Copa Bridgestone Libertadores for sponsorship reasons) is the 57th edition of the Copa Libertadores de América, South America's premier club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. The winner (or the best-placed team from South America team if the winner is from Mexico) will play in the 2016 FIFA Club World Cup and the 2017 Recopa Sudamericana. River Plate are the defending champions
The draw of the tournament was held on 22 December 2015, 20:30 PYST (UTC−3), at the CONMEBOL Convention Centre in Luque, Paraguay
Starting from this season, teams are seeded by the newly established CONMEBOL ranking of the Copa Libertadores (except for teams from Mexico which are not ranked and thus seeded last in all draws), which takes into account of the following three factors:
Performance in the last 10 years, taking into account Copa Libertadores results in the period 2006–2015
Historical coefficient, taking into account Copa Libertadores results in the period 1960–2005
Local tournament champion, with bonus points awarded to domestic league champions of the last 10 years
For the first stage, the 12 teams were drawn into six ties containing a team from Pot A and a team from Pot B, with the former hosting the second leg. The teams were seeded based on their CONMEBOL ranking (shown in parentheses). Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same tie.
For the second stage, the 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four containing a team from each of the four pots. The defending champions (River Plate) were automatically placed first in Pot 1 and allocated to Group 1 for the draw. The remaining teams were seeded based on their CONMEBOL ranking (shown in parentheses).[17] Teams from the same association in Pots 1, 2 and 3 could not be drawn into the same group. Teams from Mexico were allocated to Pot 4, together with the winners of the first stage, whose identity was not known at the time of the draw, and they could be drawn into the same group with another team from the same association.
Draw
The draw of the tournament was held on 22 December 2015, 20:30 PYST (UTC−3), at the CONMEBOL Convention Centre in Luque, Paraguay
Starting from this season, teams are seeded by the newly established CONMEBOL ranking of the Copa Libertadores (except for teams from Mexico which are not ranked and thus seeded last in all draws), which takes into account of the following three factors:
Performance in the last 10 years, taking into account Copa Libertadores results in the period 2006–2015
Historical coefficient, taking into account Copa Libertadores results in the period 1960–2005
Local tournament champion, with bonus points awarded to domestic league champions of the last 10 years
For the first stage, the 12 teams were drawn into six ties containing a team from Pot A and a team from Pot B, with the former hosting the second leg. The teams were seeded based on their CONMEBOL ranking (shown in parentheses). Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same tie.
For the second stage, the 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four containing a team from each of the four pots. The defending champions (River Plate) were automatically placed first in Pot 1 and allocated to Group 1 for the draw. The remaining teams were seeded based on their CONMEBOL ranking (shown in parentheses).[17] Teams from the same association in Pots 1, 2 and 3 could not be drawn into the same group. Teams from Mexico were allocated to Pot 4, together with the winners of the first stage, whose identity was not known at the time of the draw, and they could be drawn into the same group with another team from the same association.
