The Copa Simón Bolívar ( English: ''Simon Bolivar Cup'') was an international football competition organized by the Venezuelan Football Federation.Copa Simón Bolívar Files
/ref> The idea of this competition was to create a tournament among the champions clubs of the countries liberated by

Simon Bolivar Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...

. It was played six times from its first edition in 1970 to the last in 1976, thus integrating the league champions clubs of

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in ...

, Colombia,

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar language, Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechuan ...

and

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

. Due to its format, it was a historical precedent of the Copa Merconorte, played between the same Bolivarian countries or the

Andean Community The Andean Community ( es, Comunidad Andina, CAN) is a free trade area with the objective of creating a customs union comprising the South American countries of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. The trade bloc was called the Andean Pact ...

from 1998 until the 2001 edition. It is an official tournament to be organized by a football federation member of the CONMEBOL (in this case the Venezuelan federation), in addition to which it had continuity for several years. Although the South American Football Confederation endorsed it at the time, is not included in the list of competitions organised by the entity as they are not the direct organisers of the tournament, however, the competition was very important for the time and was cited by various sports media as a relevant international title, so much so that the president of the entity at the time, Teófilo Salinas, officially delivered the cup. It was not organized by CONMEBOL or FIFA, similar to the case of the old River Plate tournaments such as the Copa Aldao, which is also considered official. Other examples are in Europe where the

Copa Latina The Latin Cup was an international football tournament for club sides from the Southwest European nations of France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. In 1949 the football federations came together and requested FIFA to launch the competition. Eur ...

, Copa Mitropa, or the Copa de Ferias were played that were not organized by

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs foo ...

and were also considered official competitions at the time, although these are endorsed by FIFA. The titles list is led by six teams belonging to three federations, while the teams of the Colombian federation lead the list by winning federations with three titles, followed by the Peruvian federation with two titles and the Venezuelan federation with a single title.

History

The tournament began in 1970 on the initiative of the Venezuelan Football Federation and initially counting on the support and participation of the Colombian clubs affiliated to the Colombian Football Major Division, the governing body of the Colombian league and which even created previous qualification systems to the tournament Tolima Boys Tournament Champion
/ref> in the first three editions only included clubs from Colombia and

, from 1975 representatives of

joined,

and

; the tournament was discontinued in 1976 for calendar and economic reasons. It is recognized as a predecessor of the Copa Merconorte that was played by these same countries of northern

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...

. The reasons for the disappearance of the event were written by journalist José Visconti, for the newspaper El Nacional:

History

List of champions

Performances

By club

By country

See also

References