In Luque, at the CONMEBOL convention center, the 2020 Libertadores Cup draw was held and the eight groups of next year’s tournament that will begin in January were already decided. There will be four teams that will reach the Group Phase from the qualification rounds, to finish defining the complete calendar.

????????? The Group Stage draw in full! pic.twitter.com/oRvK4j68OJ — CONMEBOL Libertadores (@TheLibertadores) December 18, 2019

THE CHAMPIONS IN GROUP A

The main peculiarity of the draw was related to the current champion of the tournament, the Brazilian Flamengo, who was the top seed of Group A and will face Independiente del Valle from Ecuador, champion of the last Copa Sudamericana. In addition, Junior from Colombia and one of the teams coming from the qualifying phase (Carabobo, Universitario, Cerro Porteño, Progreso, Barcelona or Sporting Cristal) will complete a group more than interesting.

On the other hand, River Plate, the other finalist of the last edition, will face a complicated Group D together with Dani Alves’ Sao Paulo, Liga Universitaria of Quito and Binacional, Peruvian champion. The last two come with an additional complication, the height, since the Ecuadorian team plays at 2,850 meters above sea level, and the Peruvian hopes to recondition their stadium in the city of Juliaca which is 3,825 meters high.

THE PRESENCE OF RIQUELME

Boca Juniors, semifinalist of the last edition and one of the most winning teams in the continent, had Juan Román Riquelme, maximum idol of the institution and recently elected as vice president of the club, as its representative in Paraguay. The legendary Argentine number ‘10’ received a replica of the Copa Libertadores and saw how his team was drawn in Group H along Libertad of Paraguay, Caracas, Venezuelan champion, and another of the teams from the qualifying phase (Independiente Medellín, Táchira, Bolivia 3 or Atlético Tucumán).

In other interesting groups, Peñarol, Colo Colo, Paranaense and Bolivia 2 will share Group C, while Gremio, Universidad Católica de Chile, América de Cali and another team from the qualifying rounds (Macará, Tolima, Chile 4 or Internacional of Brasil) will compete in Group F.

With 168.3 million dollars in prizes, the new champion will take 15 million plus 25% of the net income from the final that will be played on November 21 at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. Adding each round, the amount for the new King of America will be 22.5 million. It will be a great economic incentive, beyond football glory.

This are all the groups for next year’s Copa Libertadores:

Group A

Flamengo (Brazil)

Independiente del Valle (Ecuador)

Junior (Colombia)

G1

Group B

Palmeiras (Brazil)

Bolívar (Bolivia)

Tigre (Argentina)

G2

Group C

Peñarol (Uruguay)

Colo Colo (Chile)

Athletico Paranaense (Brazil)

Bolivia 2

Group D

River Plate (Argentina)

São Paulo (Brazil)

Liga Deportiva Universitaria (Ecuador)

Binacional (Peru)

Group E

Grêmio (Brazil)

Universidad Católica (Chile)

América de Cali (Colombia)

G4

Group F

Nacional (Uruguay)

Racing Club (Argentina)

Alianza Lima (Peru)

Estudiantes de Mérida (Venezuela)

Group G

Olimpia (Paraguay)

Santos (Brazil)

Delfín (Ecuador)

Defensa y Justicia (Argentina)

Group H

Boca Juniors (Argentina)

Libertad (Paraguay)

Caracas Venezuela)

G3