Conmebol (South American Football Confederation) held this Thursday (19), at its headquarters in Luque, Paraguay, the draw for the preliminary stages of the Copa Libertadores. The path for Corinthians and Bahia was thus defined, as they will need to overcome two opponents each to reach the group stage.
The black and white team will face Universidad Central, from Venezuela. As they have a better ranking, the competition will begin away from home, in Caracas, and will decide the place in São Paulo. If they survive, they will face the winner of Barcelona de Guyaquil’s clash with the winner of a clash in the previous stage between a representative of Bolivia to be defined and El Nacional, from Ecuador.
Bahia will face a representative from Bolivia who will still be known, also with the advantage of playing the second match at home. Afterwards, if successful, they will face the team that advances from the clash between Boston River, from Uruguay, and Ñublense, from Chile.
The Brazilians’ debut phase is scheduled for the weeks of February 19th and 26th. The next stage, in which the last classified in the group stage will be known, will take place in the weeks of March 5th and 12th. The subsequent bracket will be established in a new draw, also in Luque.
Six Brazilian clubs are already guaranteed in the group stage. They are Botafogo, current champion, Flamengo, winner of the Copa do Brasil, and four teams classified via the Brazilian Championship: Palmeiras, Fortaleza, Internacional and São Paulo.
Check out the table for the three preliminary stages of the Libertadores
Phase 1
E1 Representative of Bolivia x El Nacional-EQU
E2 Nacional-PAR x Alianza Lima-PER
E3 Monagas-VEN x Defensor Sporting-URU
Phase 2
C1 Deportes Iquique-CHI x Santa Fe-COL
C2 Representative of Bolivia x Bahia
C3 E3 x Cerro Porteño-PAR
C4 E1 x Barcelona-EQU
C5 Central University-VEN x Corinthians
C6 Representative of Colombia x Melgar-PER
C7 Boston River-URU x Ublense-CHI
C8 E2 x Boca Juniors-ARG
Phase 3
G1 C1 x C8
G2 C3xC7
G3 C3 x C6
G4 C4 x C5
