| Tourney Name: | U-20 Copa Libertadores |
| Year: | 2022 |
| Dates: | 5–20 February 2022 |
| Num Teams: | 12 |
| Associations: | 10 |
| Venues: | 3 |
| Cities: | 1 |
| Country: | Ecuador |
| City: | Quito |
| Champion Other: | Peñarol |
| Count: | 1 |
| Second Other: | Independiente del Valle |
| Third Other: | Guaraní |
| Fourth Other: | Caracas |
| Matches: | 22 |
| Goals: | 67 |
| Top Scorer: | Francisco Sagardia Saúl Guarirapa (4 goals each) |
| Prevseason: | 2020 |
| Nextseason: | 2023 |
The 2022 U-20 Copa CONMEBOL Libertadores (es|'''Copa CONMEBOL Libertadores Sub-20 2022''') was the 6th edition of the U-20 CONMEBOL Libertadores (also referred to as the U-20 Copa Libertadores), South America's premier under-20 club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. It was held in Ecuador from 5 to 20 February 2022.[1]
The tournament was played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, except for the final matchday (third place match and final) which had a capacity of 50% allowed in the Estadio Rodrigo Paz Delgado.[2] [3]
Independiente del Valle were the defending champions having won the title in 2020. Peñarol won their first title after beating Independiente del Valle 4–3 on penalties after 1–1 draw in the final match.[4] As winners of the 2022 U-20 Copa Libertadores, Peñarol earned the right to play against Benfica, the winners of the 2021–22 UEFA Youth League, in the 2022 Under-20 Intercontinental Cup which is a single leg match-up officially launched by CONMEBOL and UEFA on 2 June 2022.[5]
The competition will be contested by 12 teams: the title holders, the youth champions from each of the ten CONMEBOL member associations, and one additional team from the host association.
| Association | Team | Qualifying method | data-sort-type="number" | Participation | Previous best result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newell's Old Boys | 2021 Cuarta División (U-20) champions[6] | 1st | — | |||
| Blooming | 2021 U-20 Copa Libertadores qualification championship champions[7] | 2nd | data-sort-value="6" | Group stage (2012) | ||
| Internacional | 2021 U-20 Supercopa do Brasil champions[8] | 1st | — | |||
| Universidad de Concepción | 2021 U-21 Campeonato Fútbol Joven champions[9] | 1st | — | |||
| Millonarios | 2019 U-20 Súper Copa Juvenil champions[10] | 3rd | data-sort-value="6" | Group stage (2011, 2020) | ||
| (hosts) | 2020 U-20 Copa Libertadores champions | 6th | data-sort-value="1" | Champions (2020) | ||
| 2021 U-18 Serie A champions[11] | 1st | — | ||||
| 2021 U-18 Serie A third place[12] | 1st | — | ||||
| Guaraní | 2021 U-19 Clausura champions[13] | 1st | — | |||
| Sporting Cristal | 2021 U-18 Copa Generación champions[14] | 3rd | data-sort-value="6" | Group stage (2012, 2020) | ||
| Peñarol | 2021 U-19 Torneo Especial champions[15] | 1st | — | |||
| Caracas | 2021 Liga FUTVE Junior champions[16] | 2nd | data-sort-value="6" | Group stage (2011) |
| Quito | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa | Estadio Banco Guayaquil | Estadio Rodrigo Paz Delgado | |
| Capacity: 35,258 | Capacity: 12,000 | Capacity: 41,575 | |
Ecuador was named as host country of the tournament at the CONMEBOL Council meeting held on 27 October 2021.[1] [17] The Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa hosted the matches of groups B and C while the Estadio Banco Guayaquil, owned by Independiente del Valle, hosted the group A matches and the semi-finals. On 19 February 2022, the Estadio Rodrigo Paz Delgado, owned by LDU Quito, was included as venue of the third place match and the final that had originally been scheduled at the Estadio Banco Guayaquil.[3] All venues are located in Quito.[18] [19]
The draw was held on 20 December 2021, 13:30 PYST (UTC−3), at the CONMEBOL Convention Centre in Luque, Paraguay.[20] [21] The draw was conducted according to the following guidelines:[22]
The draw resulted in the following groups:[21]
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On 28 December 2021, CONMEBOL informed to its member associations the referees appointed for the tournament.[23] Assistant referee Guilherme Dias Camilo was replaced by Bruno Boschilia, both from Brazil.[24]
Players born on or after 1 January 2002 were eligible to compete. Each team could register a maximum of 20 and a minimum of 16 players, two of whom should have been goalkeepers (Regulations Article 31).[25]
The winners of each group and the best runner-up among all groups will advance to the semi-finals.
All match times are in ECT (UTC−5), as listed by CONMEBOL.[26] [27]
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The final stage consisted of the semi-finals, the third place match and the final. The semi-final matchups will be:
The semi-final winners and losers played in the final and third place match respectively. If a game was tied after full time, extra time would not be played, and a penalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winner (Regulations Article 23).[25]
The final matchday, which consisted of the third place match and the final, was moved from Estadio Banco Guayaquil to Estadio Rodrigo Paz Delgado due to the original venue's field was damaged as a result of the heavy rains that occurred in Quito.[3]
All match times are in ECT (UTC−5), as listed by CONMEBOL.[27] [28]
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| Rank | Player | Team | Goals | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=center rowspan=2 | 1 | Saúl Guarirapa | Caracas | align=center rowspan=2 | 4 |
| Francisco Sagardia | Independiente del Valle | ||||
| align=center rowspan=2 | 2 | Milciades Adorno | Guaraní | align=center rowspan=2 | 3 |
| Óscar José Cruz | Peñarol | ||||
| align=center rowspan=12 | 3 | Neicer Acosta | Independiente del Valle | align=center rowspan=12 | 2 |
| Máximo Alonso | Peñarol | ||||
| Romeo Benítez | Guaraní | ||||
| Maikel Caicedo | Independiente del Valle | ||||
| Joao Grimaldo | Sporting Cristal | ||||
| Adrián Mejía | Independiente del Valle | ||||
| Gilmar Paredes | Sporting Cristal | ||||
| Marlon Perea | Sporting Cristal | ||||
| Bryan Quiñónez | Orense | ||||
| Matías Segovia | Guaraní | ||||
| Manuel Sulbarán | Caracas | ||||
| Anthony Valencia | Independiente del Valle |
As per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time were counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-out were counted as draws.