Copa Interamericana

Copa Interamericana
Interamerican Cup
	The Interamerican Cup trophy
Organizing body	CONCACAF; CONMEBOL
Founded	1968
Abolished	1998
Region	North America; South America
Number of teams	2
Last champion(s)	D.C. United (1st title)
Most successful club(s)	Independiente (3 titles)

The Copa Interamericana (English: Interamerican Cup), was an international football competition endorsed by CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean) and CONMEBOL (South America). Established in 1969, it was discontinued in 1998 after CONCACAF clubs, particularly those from Mexico, began participating in CONMEBOL competitions.

The competition was intended to be contested between the winners of the North American

penalty kicks if necessary. However, it was common for several consecutive editions to go unheld. Of the 18 competitions played out, four of them were contested over several matches in just one venue. Two others were held in a single match. Another two editions had participants that didn't outright qualify to dispute the competition. Most of the editions were held one, and sometimes two, years after the participants had qualified. This was the result of the lack of financial incentives and the low relevance of the competition.^{[citation needed}

]

The 18 Copa Interamericana tournaments were won by 13 different club teams. Argentine side Independiente won a record three titles. The last winner of the cup was American side D.C. United, defeating Brazilian side Vasco da Gama 2–1 on aggregate in 1998. Argentina was the most successful national league with seven titles, while Uruguayan outfit Nacional and Independiente share the record for the most appearances with three each.

History

In 1969, an agreement came between the confederations of South America (CONMEBOL) and Central and North America (CONCACAF) to play an annual competition, the

FAS but Club Universidad Nacional of Mexico City

defeating Uruguay's Nacional to win CONCACAF's second title.

The competition entered a state of hiatus again, this time for five years. In 1986,

Vélez Sársfield beat Costa Rican club Cartaginés in 1994 while the last Interamerican Cup, held in 1998, saw American club D.C. United

beat Vasco da Gama.

The Interamerican Cup was abolished in 1998 when Mexican clubs began to participate in the Copa Libertadores and other CONCACAF teams participated in the Copa Sudamericana. From 2005 to 2023, when FIFA adopted the Club World Championship format clash between the champions of all continental confederations, the champions of CONCACAF and CONMEBOL again had the opportunity to meet, which happened on multiple occasions throughout the history of the tournament with this format.

On January 27, 2023, it was announced that CONCACAF and CONMEBOL had signed a new strategic partnership, which would include a "Final four" style club tournament containing 2 teams from both confederations that would start in 2024.^[1]

List of matches

Key to the list
a.e.t.	Match was won during extra time
pen.	Match was won on a penalty shoot-out

List of Copa Interamericana matches
Year	Winners	Agg	Runners-up	1st leg	2nd leg	Play-off
1969	Estudiantes (LP)	6–3	Toluca	2–1	1–2	3–0
1971	Nacional	3–2	Cruz Azul	1–1	2–1	–
1973	Independiente	4–1	Olimpia	2–1	2–0	–
1974	Independiente	1–1 (4–2 pen.)	Municipal	1–0	0–1	–
1976	Independiente	2–2 (4–2 pen.)	Español	2–2	0–0	–
1978	América	1–3 ^{[n 1]}	Boca Juniors	0–3	1–0	2–1 (a.e.t.)
1979	Olimpia	8–3	FAS	3–3	5–0	–
1981	UNAM	6–5	Nacional	3–1	1–3	2–1
1985	Argentinos Juniors	1–0 ^{[note 1]}	Defence Force	–
1986	River Plate	3–0	Alajuelense	0–0	3–0	–
1988	Nacional	5–1	Olimpia	1–1	4–0	–
1989	Atlético Nacional	6–1	UNAM	2–0	4–1	–
1990	América	3–2	Olimpia	1–1	2–1	–
1991	Colo-Colo	7–2	Puebla	4–1	3–1	–
1993	Universidad Católica	6–4	Saprissa	1–3	5–1	–
1996	Vélez Sársfield	2–0	Cartaginés	0–0	2–0	–
1995	Atlético Nacional	3–2 ^{[note 1]}	Saprissa	–
1998	D.C. United	2–1	Vasco da Gama	0–1	2–0	–

Notes

^ ^a ^b Final was played under a single match format.

^ Aggregate score not taken into account.

Records and statistics

Winners

Performance in the Copa Interamericana by club
Team	Winners	Runners-up	Years won	Years runners-up
Independiente	3	0	1972, 1974, 1975
Nacional	2	1	1971, 1988	1980
América	2	0	1977, 1990
Atlético Nacional	2	0	1989, 1995
Olimpia	1	1	1979	1990
UNAM	1	1	1981	1989
Estudiantes	1	0	1968
Argentinos Juniors	1	0	1985
River Plate	1	0	1986
Colo-Colo	1	0	1991
Universidad Católica	1	0	1993
Vélez Sársfield	1	0	1994
D.C. United	1	0	1998
Olimpia	0	2		1972, 1988
Saprissa	0	2		1993, 1995
Toluca	0	1		1968
Municipal	0	1		1974
Boca Juniors	0	1		1977
FAS	0	1		1979
Defence Force	0	1		1985
Alajuelense	0	1		1986
Cartaginés	0	1		1994
Vasco da Gama	0	1		1998

By nation

Performance by nation
Nation	Winners	Runners-up	Total
Argentina	7	1	8
Mexico	3	5	8
Chile	2	0	2
Colombia	2	0	2
Uruguay	2	1	3
Paraguay	1	1	2
United States	1	0	1
Costa Rica	0	4	4
Honduras	0	2	2
Brazil	0	1	1
El Salvador	0	1	1
Guatemala	0	1	1
Trinidad and Tobago	0	1	1