The Copa Ganadores de Copa, also known as Recopa Sudamericana de Clubes, was a South Americanfootball tournament organized by CONMEBOL. Its first edition was held in 1970 and was won by Bolivian club Mariscal Santa Cruz. The second edition was organized in 1971, however, Group One matches have never been played and the tournament reduced to a friendly competition at the end and the winner of Group Two was crowned the champion. The competition was not held after this year.
The tournament was contested by football clubs which were the most recent winners of South American domestic cup competitions or the highest team club that did not qualify for the Copa Libertadores. The actual qualifying criteria varied across countries.
The competition was a round robin tournament with two groups, each group was played in a different city. The group winners qualify for the two-legged final.
Different countries used different methods of qualification.[2]
Venezuela: Winner of the Copa de Venezuela (in 1970, as the winner Deportivo Galicia earned eligibility of Copa Libertadores, the runner-up Unión Deportiva Canarias entered this tournament)
Brazil and Colombia decided not to enter the competition again. The same format was adopted as the previous session.[3]
Nonetheless, on February 25, 1971, CONMEBOL decided to reduce it into a friendly tournament and there would not be a trophy, because Deportes Concepción withdrew from the tournament and confirmation of participation had not been received from Huracán Buceo. Matches in Group One were never played and América, the winner of Group Two, was regarded as the champion of the friendly tournament.
But although CONMEBOL does not list the 1971 edition as an official tournament,[4] the IFFHS (International Federation of Football History and Statistics) count it as an official competition to his numbers and records.
