Copa Colombia
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The Copa Colombia (); officially known as Copa BetPlay Dimayor is an annual
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
tournament in
Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
. It is contested by the 36 professional clubs affiliated to the División Mayor del Fútbol Profesional Colombiano (DIMAYOR) and is the nation's domestic cup competition, equivalent to the
FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...
in England or the
Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...
in Spain. The Copa Colombia was played for the first time in 1950, and it has been played consecutively since its revival in 2008. Throughout history, different championships have been known under the Copa Colombia name: * A
double-elimination A double-elimination tournament is a type of elimination tournament competition in which a participant ceases to be eligible to win the tournament's championship upon having lost ''two'' games or matches. It stands in contrast to a single-elimin ...
, knockout tournament parallel to the Colombian league, which was played from 1950–51 to 1952–53. * A tournament that was played under a round-robin group format in which teams advanced to a final group, which was also named as ''Copa Presidente de la República'', played from late 1956 to early 1957. * The name of a commemorative trophy awarded in 1963, which is not considered a Copa Colombia title. * A tournament played in 1981 and 1989, which was part of the league season and awarded bonus points or berths to the final stages of the league tournament. * The knockout tournament played by teams in
Categoría Primera A The Categoría Primera A (), commonly referred to as Liga BetPlay Dimayor due to Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by online betting company BetPlay, is a professional association football league in Colombia and the highest level of the Colombian ...
and
Categoría Primera B Categoría Primera B, commonly referred to as Torneo BetPlay Dimayor due to Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by online betting company BetPlay, is the second-division association football, football league in Colombia. The tournament was inaugura ...
, established since
2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
. Atlético Nacional are the current holders, who won their seventh Copa Colombia title against América de Cali, winning the final series by a 3–1 aggregate score. Atlético Nacional are also the most successful club in the competition.


History


Copa Colombia in "El Dorado"

The Copa Colombia was an idea promoted in 1950 by DIMAYOR at the time known as "
El Dorado El Dorado () is a mythical city of gold supposedly located somewhere in South America. The king of this city was said to be so rich that he would cover himself from head to foot in gold dust – either daily or on certain ceremonial occasions ...
" due to the boom experienced by football in the country. It emerged as an official tournament to be held annually, independent from the league championship and under a particular knockout format in which teams were divided by proximity into territorial groups of four teams each. Teams faced each other in home-and-away matches to determine the teams that advanced to a stage known as the winners' round. When a team lost two ties it was eliminated, while if it won it played a new round. The worst of the three remaining teams was eliminated, while a new tie was played, called losers' round, to determine the other team that reached the final. Due to the economic power of clubs and the Colombian league at that time, many teams had large payrolls for both tournaments as well as the international games they played. However, the little interest the competition generated among the participants led to delays in the scheduling of games and the first tournament ended in 1951. It was the reason why the next edition was not held until 1952, and its conclusion was again delayed until the following year. In the period between both editions (1951–52), what turned out to be the early rounds of the 1952–53 edition is mistakenly referred as another edition of the competition due to its
double-elimination A double-elimination tournament is a type of elimination tournament competition in which a participant ceases to be eligible to win the tournament's championship upon having lost ''two'' games or matches. It stands in contrast to a single-elimin ...
format. Boca Juniors de Cali (as winners of the winners' round) and Millonarios (who were defeated by Boca Juniors in the winners' round but then went on to win the losers' round) played the final of the 1952–53 edition, which was ultimately won by Millonarios. Following that edition, the tournament was cancelled due to the lack of interest displayed by fans and teams alike. An attempt to resume it was made in 1956–57: in said third edition, the first phase was played and six teams qualified to play a final hexagonal: Atlético Nacional, Santa Fe, Deportivo Pereira, Boca Juniors de Cali and the ones that would be the top two of said hexagonal: Independiente Medellín and Atlético Bucaramanga; however, the grand final between these two teams was never played, thus the tournament was abandoned and no more editions were played until the 1980s.


Commemorative cup (1963)

After consecutively winning the league titles in
1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...
,
1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...
and
1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...
, Millonarios were granted permanent ownership of the "Copa Colombia" trophy, which should have been awarded to the winner of three editions. As these editions did not come to fruition, Millonarios were awarded the trophy on account of their league success. Although the club counts it as a title, it is not recognized as an official title by DIMAYOR. In 2017, and through its Twitter account, DIMAYOR included said trophy among those won by manager Gabriel Ochoa Uribe (who coached the club in 1963), without clarifying whether it is an official title.


1980s: Copa Colombia as part of the league tournament

In 1981, an event with the same name was held again but with the particularity that it was played by the 10 clubs eliminated from the final quadrangular of the Campeonato Profesional (made up of 14 teams), as an appendix phase of the championship. Firstly, the six teams eliminated in the regular phase participated in a hexagonal from which one team ( Independiente Medellín) qualified for the final, with the other finalist ( Deportivo Cali) being decided in a quadrangular between the four teams that were eliminated in the semifinal phase. Independiente Medellín won the tournament after beating Deportivo Cali 3–1 in the first leg and a 1–1 draw in the second leg, both played in
Medellín Medellín ( ; or ), officially the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (), is the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia Departme ...
. The competition had an incentive for the first time, awarding a spot in the league's final octagonal for the following season, which Independiente Medellín did not need in the end since they ultimately qualified through league performance. In 2014, this tournament was officially recognized by the
Colombian Football Federation The Colombian Football Federation () is the governing body of association football, football in Colombia. The organization was founded in 1924, and has been affiliated with FIFA since 1936. It is a member of CONMEBOL and in charge of the Colombi ...
as part of the tribute that
CONMEBOL CONMEBOL ( ) or CSF (; ; ), is the continental governing body of football in South America and it is one of FIFA's six continental confederations. The oldest continental confederation in the world, its headquarters are located in Luque, Parag ...
paid to Independiente Medellín for its 101st anniversary. In 1989, a new Copa Colombia edition was held, again as part of the league championship. It was played between the first and second rounds of the tournament and the points from this competition were added to the league's aggregate table, through which eight teams would qualify for the final stage of the championship. However, that year's tournament was abandoned due to the assassination of referee Álvaro Ortega. The Copa's first stage was played in three regional groups of five teams each, and the top eight in the tournament's table qualified for a knockout stage. Santa Fe won the competition by beating Unión Magdalena in the final, and was awarded 0.5 bonus points. The runners-up, Unión Magdalena, were awarded 0.375 bonus points, whilst semi-finalists Junior and América de Cali were awarded 0.250 and 0.125 bonus points, respectively.


Reinstatement in 2008

On 14 February 2008, the 36 member clubs of DIMAYOR approved the holding of a new tournament known as Copa Colombia, integrating the teams competing in the Primera A and Primera B tiers of Colombian professional football. In its first editions, it granted the winner a berth into the following season's
Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, also known as Copa Sudamericana (; ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL, the governing body of football in South America, since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club com ...
. Starting from its 2017 edition, it granted its winner a place in the
Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...
for the following season. The only exception to this was the 2020 edition, which awarded its winner a berth into the 2022 Copa Sudamericana given that the tournament was temporarily suspended due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
and did not end within the calendar year. Qualification for the Copa Libertadores was granted to the winners until the 2023 edition, with the 36 DIMAYOR member clubs deciding that the winners of the 2024 Copa Colombia would qualify for the Copa Sudamericana.


Editions


Copa Colombia (1950–1989)

Source: RSSSF (Note: some editions cited in RSSSF as official are not considered official by all sources)


Copa Colombia (2008 – present)

Source: RSSSF


Titles by club


References

{{National football Cups (CONMEBOL region) Football competitions in Colombia
Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
1950 establishments in Colombia Recurring sporting events established in 1950