1964 Copa Libertadores

The 1964 Copa de Campeones de América was the fifth edition of South America's premier club football tournament. For the first time since its inception, every member of CONMEBOL was represented in the competition. Deportivo Italia became the first club from Venezuela to participate, providing an unexpectedly impressive performance after eliminating Bahia of Brazil in the preliminary round and beating Barcelona in Guayaquil.

1964 Copa de Campeones de América
Tournament details
DatesApril 3 - August 12
Teams11 (from 10 confederations)
Final positions
ChampionsArgentina Independiente (1st title)
Runners-upUruguay Nacional
Tournament statistics
Matches played26
Goals scored88 (3.38 per match)
Top scorer(s)Argentina Mario Rodríguez
Paraguay Celino Mora
(6 goals each)
1963
1965

Building up on Boca Juniors' great showing in the last season, Argentine football managed to put themselves on the international map as Independiente won Argentina's first title. El Diablo Rojo, or Red Devil, eliminated the powerful Santos, which played without the main stars of its attack (Dorval, Mengálvio, Coutinho and an injured Pelé didn't play, and Pepe played just the first match of the semifinal).[1] After winning both matches of their semifinal series, the Argentines dispatched Nacional in the finals. Mario Rodríguez was a key factor in Independiente's triumph and was the top scorer of the tournament with 6 goals.

Qualified teams

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Country Team Qualification method
CONMEBOL
1 berth
Santos 1963 Copa Libertadores de América winners
  Argentina
1 berth
Independiente 1963 Primera División champion
  Bolivia
1 berth
Aurora 1963 Copa Simón Bolívar champion
  Brazil
1 berth
Bahia 1963 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A runner-up
  Chile
1 berth
Colo-Colo 1963 Primera División champion
  Colombia
1 berth
Millonarios 1963 Campeonato Profesional champion
  Ecuador
1 berth
Barcelona 1963 Campeonato Ecuatoriano de Fútbol champion
  Paraguay
1 berth
Cerro Porteño 1963 Primera División champion
  Peru
1 berth
Alianza Lima 1963 Primera División champion
  Uruguay
1 berth
Nacional 1963 Primera División champion
  Venezuela
1 berth
Deportivo Italia 1963 Venezuelan Primera División champion

Tie-breaking criteria

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This edition saw a first round, with three groups containing three teams each; the preliminary round from the 1961 edition was reintroduced. The format for the semifinals and the finals remained unchanged.

At each stage of the tournament teams receive 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and no points for a loss. If two or more teams are equal on points, the following criteria will be applied to determine the ranking in the group stage:

  1. a one-game playoff;
  2. superior goal difference;
  3. draw of lots.

Preliminary round

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Owing to the uneven number of teams in the competition, a preliminary round was created to determine who joined the other 9 teams in the competition. As a predominated "weak" side, Venezuela has its representative face off against Brazil's second representative. The winner of the series would advance into the First round. Both matches took place in Caracas.

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
  Deportivo Italia 2 1 1 0 2 1 +1 3
  Bahía 2 0 1 1 1 2 -1 1
April 8, 1964 Bahía   1 – 2   Deportivo Italia Caracas
Vevê   Jaime  
Iramido  

First round

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Nine teams were drawn into groups of three. In each group, teams played against each other home-and-away. The top team in each group advanced to the Semifinals. Santos, the title holders, had a bye to the next round.

Group 1

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Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
  Nacional 4 3 1 0 9 2 7 7
  Cerro Porteño 4 1 2 1 11 6 5 4
  Aurora 4 0 1 3 2 14 -12 1
April 19, 1964 Nacional   2 – 0   Aurora Montevideo
Abeledo   

Group 2

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Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
  Independiente 4 3 1 0 11 3 8 7
  Millonarios 4 2 0 2 6 8 -2 4
  Alianza Lima 4 0 1 3 5 11 -6 1
June 4, 1964 Alianza Lima   2 – 2
[A]
  Independiente Avellaneda
León    Savoy   

Group 3

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Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
  Colo-Colo 4 3 0 1 9 7 2 6
  Barcelona 4 2 0 2 9 4 5 4
  Deportivo Italia 4 1 0 3 2 9 -7 2

Semifinals

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Four teams were drawn into two groups. In each group, teams played against each other home-and-away. The top team in each group advanced to the Finals.

Group A

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Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
  Independiente 2 2 0 0 5 3 +2 4
  Santos 2 0 0 2 3 5 −2 0

Group B

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Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
  Nacional 2 2 0 0 8 4 +4 4
  Colo-Colo 2 0 0 2 4 8 −4 0
July 15, 1964 Colo-Colo   2 – 4   Nacional Santiago
Baeza   o.g.'
Alvarez  
Sanfilippo   
Leites  
Douksas  

Finals

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Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
  Independiente 2 1 1 0 1 0 +1 3
  Nacional 2 0 1 1 0 1 −1 1
August 6, 1964 Nacional   0 – 0   Independiente Estadio Centenario, Montevideo
Attendance: 60,000
Referee: Leo Horn (Netherlands)
August 12, 1964 Independiente   1 – 0   Nacional La Doble Visera, Avellaneda
Rodríguez   35' Attendance: 80,000
Referee: Dimas Larrosa (Paraguay)

Champion

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Copa Libertadores de América
1964 Champion
 
Independiente
First Title

Top goalscorers

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Pos Player Team Goals
1   Mario Rodríguez   Independiente 6
  Celino Mora   Cerro Porteño 6
3   Nivaldo   Barcelona 5
4   Luis Eduardo Suárez   Independiente 4
  Raúl Armando Savoy   Independiente 4
  Delio Gamboa   Millonarios 4
3   Francisco Valdés   Colo-Colo 3
  Luis Hernán Álvarez   Colo-Colo 3
  Roberto Frojuelo   Colo-Colo 3
  Domingo Pérez   Nacional 3
  Víctor Zegarra   Alianza Lima 3

Footnotes

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  1. ^ [1] News at journal Folha de S.Paulo on June 23, 2015, the Argentine TV brought up to light phone recordings conversations between Abel Gnecco, Argentina's representative in referee committee of Conmebol and the former president of AFA, Julio Grondona, who died in 2014 and who in 1964 was president of Independiente. In the wiretapping (recorded at May 17, 2013), Grondona praises himself for have conspired with the referee team of semifinal between Santos and Independiente, in order that Brazilian team could not qualify for the final. Transcription of the wiretape, included. (in Portuguese)
A. ^ Played in Avellaneda (Racing Club's stadium) due to the tragedy around the olympic qualifier between Peru and Argentina in Lima.
B. ^ Played in Bogotá (El Campin) due to the tragedy around the olympic qualifier between Peru and Argentina in Lima.
C. ^ Not played due to differences between CONMEBOL and the Colombian football federations, ADEFútbol and FEDEBOL (after Independiente refused to travel to Bogotá); points incredibly were awarded to Independiente despite refused to play (but no goals).
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