2023 Copa Libertadores Betting Tips and Predictions

Steeped in tradition and class, the Copa Libertadores is the premier clꦗub competition in South America, and with an almost religious following, betting on the Copa Libertadores is a huge market! For more vital information about the competition and tips on betting, you’ve coꦦme to the right place!

Best Copa Libertadores betting Sites

Tournament Structure

The most prestigious club competition in South America, think of the Copa Libertadores as the Championsꦫ League with a lot more flare and an even more fanatic fan base. Let's take a look at the touꩵrnament structure.

Pre – Tournament

The first step for every team to have a chance to get into the CONEMBOL Copa Libertadores is through qualifying in their respective countries. Teams that win their respective cup competition auto♌matically enter the qualifying stage.

Each country has a select number of automatic qualification spots, qualification round spots, and implements a differen💧t system of qualification.

Argentina, Brazil and Chile implement a European system of qualifying depending on the position the team finishes in the league. The rest of the countries implement a system of Apertura and Clausura, in which the 𓆏league is split in two and there are two champions. Some use a mix of the two. These teams are given a spot in either the groups stage or in one of the qualification rounds.

There are two spots reserved for the defending champions as well as the winners of the Copa Sudamericana. A total of 47 teams are involve💟d in this pꦕrocess. The table below shows each nations qualification spots.

Competition Proper

Group Stage

With the qualification process complete and 32 teams decided, the competition proper can commence. Teams are selected from four pots and placed into eight groups at random. The four teams play each other in a round- robin style twice. The teams will play one home and one a⛎way game against each opp🐟onent.

ওTotaling six matches per group and 96 games total, the top two teams based on a points system advance to the knockout rounds. The 3rꦜd placed teams in each group enter the round of 16 of the Copa Sudamericana.

The point system works just like any other mꦯajor competition with a similar format. Three points are awarded for a win, one point for a draw and zero for a loss. If teams end in a tie after all group matches are played, the following are taken into consideration in this order:

1. Goal difference

2. Goals scored

3. Goals scored away

4. Number of wins

5. Number of away wins

Knockout Stage

The 16 teams to advance to the knockout stage are placed into two pots — one for the winners and the other fo꧟r the runners-up. They are randomly pitted against each other, and there are not restܫrictions on who can or can’t play against each other.

The competition continues with the winners over two legs advancing to the next round. Rather unusually, there is no extra time, and the tie goes strꦏaight to penalties if the second game ends🍬 in a cumulative draw.

The pattern continues up until the final, which is played as one leg in a pre-determined location. Extra time will be used here if needed, followed by penalties, with the winner being crowned the Champion of South American Football.

History of the Copa Libertadores

The Copa Libertadores is one ꧃of the oldest international cup competitions in the world and boasts a ღgreat history.

During the 1930’s, Argentina and Uruguay competed in the Copa Aldao, seeing the champions of each nation face off in a single game. In 1947, Colo-Colo invited the champions of six other countries for a league-style competition to decide the Champion of Champions. Vasco Di Gama from Brazil won the only edition of the tournament. This model eventually sparked the idea for the European Cup, now known as the Champions League.

The first iteration of the Copa América as we know it featured seven teams. Six met in a two-leg knockout, with three teams progressing to the next round. Olimpia was given a bye and played in the semi-final. They were eventually losing finalists to inaugural winners Peñarol, who actually drew more games than they won.

The next edition expanded to nine champions from nine confederations. Peñarol retained their crown. The next edition in 1962 featured two teams from the same country for the first time, with Peñarol returning as defending champions and Nacional as the Uruguayan representative. Santos became the first Brazilian team toꦫ win the competition.

The next decade was a forming phase for the competition as the number of competing teams changed every year. However, they followed a similar structure of a three group, group-stage, and a two group semi-final. The 1970’s saw a massive increase in teams, averaging around 20 teams and featured five groups.

The Argentinian teams saw huge dominance, winning 12 out of 15 titles between 1964 – 1978. The competition continued to grow in popularity and prestige, and many more teams won the competition, nine different teams won the trophy between 198꧃0 and 1990, and the trend continues till today.

The year 2000 saw some big changes as the tournament expanded from 21 teams to 32, and implemented eight groups of four teams. The tournament is still structured in this way. Argentinian and Brazilian teams have been the dominant forces throughout history. The last three finals have featured only Brazilian teams and the last five of six 𝓀editions were won🅰 by a Brazilian team.

The final has been played over two legs since the tournament’s inception, with a playoff round and extra time plus penalties played if needed. In 2019, the final began being played over a single leg, m♔eaning there have so far been four one-legged finals.

Recent Champions

Below are the previous winners of the competition, starting from the first 32 team tournament in 2000. 16 different teams have won it in this time꧃, coming from A📖rgentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Columbia, Paraguay, Chile and Ecuador.

*Finals played over one leg.

Performances by Clubs

The co꧟mpetitiveness of the competition from the get-go has halted any club — like Real Madrid in the Cha🍸mpions League — from running away with all-time wins. Below is a list of the best teams in the competition.

All-Time Top Scorers

Alberto Spencer (#1) was the top scorer in th൲e first (1960) and third (1962) ever CONMEBOL Libe🥂rtadores competitions.

Seven out of the 10 players on the list have all made their Libertadores debuts in the 1960s and 1970s. The other three are Antony de Ávila (#6)(1983), Luizão (#6)(1998) and Gabriel Barbosa (#6)(2018).

Gabriel Barbosa (#6) is the only player from the list who is 🍸still actively playing today. Still only 26 years of age, we have no doubt tha𒉰t he’ll end his career with plenty more goals to his name. Barbosa was the top scorer in the 2019 and 2021 Copa Libertadores campaigns.

2022 Copa Libertadores Recap

The 2023 edition of the competition is set to start in April, with the qualifiers beginning 2 months earlier in February. Until then, we don’t have any fixtures and results to present to you. However, here’s a quick recap of what happened in the 2022 competition.

In the group stages, three teams remained unbeaten in six group matches: River Plate, Palmeiras — who won all their group games, and eventual winners Flamengo.

By far the most interesting group was group B, which featured loosing finalists Club Athletico Paranaense, Club Libertad, The Strongest, and Caracas. Until the final round of fixtures, one point separated the top two and bottom two teams, meaning whoevꦬer won their match would go through. Athletico and Libertad won their respective matches to progress to the next round.

The round of 16 featured a surprise exit for River Plate after losing to fellow Argentinian side Vélez Sarsfield, who finished 26th in the league in the same campaign. Vélez made a superb run to the semis before losing to Flamengo. The rest went on as normal and Athletico and Palmeiras also made it to the semis.

Flamengo ended Vélez Sarsfield run convincingly with 4-0 and 2-1 wins. It was mu꧟ch closer on the other side of the bracket, with Athletico winning 1-0 at home before holding a 2-2 to Palmeiras away.

The final was another closely fought match with the only goal of the game coming in the 45th minute thanks to a Gabriel Barbosa strike. Athletico were handed a red card just a few minutes before the goal 🅰and weren’t able to recover. Flamengo were crowned Champions for the 3rd time in their history.

Copa Libertadores Betting Odds

With the competition still being far off and the final crop of teams still yet to be decided, there are currently no 🐭odds for the 2023 CONMEBOL Libertadores. However, we will keep you up to date on any updates in this section.

Copa Libertadores Tips & Predictions

The major leagues in South America as well as the Copa Libertadores all start in 2023, so it may be too early toꦫ tell just who will be lifting the trophy in November. However, there are a number of trends we can follow to make our pr꧅edictions a bit more accurate. Here are our ‘Early Bird Special’ Copa Libertadores predictions.

CONMEBOL Libertadores Important dates

The Copa Libertadores takes ܫplace over a single calendar year, much like the rest of the continent’s nat༺ional leagues. Here are the most important dates from the very beginning of the tournament up until the last kick off.

Qualifying Rounds

While the date for the draws for the qualifiers has yet to be decided, the dates for the matches are as follow🐲s:

Group Stage

Once all the qualifiers are completed and the 32 teams are confirmed, the teams will be drawn at random from four pots. The group draw will commence on the 22nd of March 2023. This will be 🍌followed by six matchdays as each team will play each other home and away.

Knockout Stages

The draw for the round of 16 is the 5th of July 2023. From then on, the rounds are not randomised and follow the normal eliminatiꦯon progression. These are the dates for all the rounds with the single-legged final being played at a predetermined location.

Copa Libertadores Betting Markets

Outright Betting Market

The simplest and most common form of betting with the best football bookies is betting on an outr🌸ight winner. This means that you will need to decide who will win the event before or during a tournament. In this case, wageringing on a Brazilian team is probably your best bet.

However, we suggest waiting unti✃l t꧅he qualifiers are over and the final 32 teams are decided before making any outright predictions. Similar to this is betting on the top goalscorer and best player.

Betting on Red Cards

The South Americans love a red card. With one seemingly happening every game, betting on a red card may offer great value if you know where to look. We suggest you use our cards and booking points: stats and guide page to check out more detailed info.

To put it into comparison with the European equivalent of the tournament, the Copa América on average sees double the number of red cars each year. Betting on the red is high ꧟risk yet high reward, even in an event which sees them relatively regularly.

Making Use of Bet Builders

Football bet builders have bec🦄ome insanely popular over the years as punters can create their own personalised bets with multiple markets. Bet builders are great for getting the most out of your bet, allowing you to accumulate odds and combining smaller bets to make large ones.

Using bet builders and accumulators are great for this sort of tournament. With so many games being played over a short period of time, its easy to see that the Copa Libertado♑res will give you an opportunity to place accas and know the outcome of your slip in a matter of days or even less.

Copa Libertadores Key Stats

Similar Tournament to the Copa Libertadores

ThePuntersPage Final Say

The CONMEBOL Copa Libertadores is the pinnacle of South American football an🌊d is hotly c༒ontested by all the elite clubs on the continent. With so much great football to be watched and bet on, our guide and predictions are a great way to stay on top of it all.