UEFA–CONMEBOL Club Challenge explained

UEFA–CONMEBOL Club Challenge
Organisers:
Region:South America
Europe
Number Of Teams:2
Current Champions:Sevilla (1st title)
Most Successful Team:Sevilla (1 title)
Current:2023 UEFA–CONMEBOL Club Challenge

The UEFA–CONMEBOL Club Challenge[1] (Spanish; Castilian: UEFA–CONMEBOL Desafío de Clubes; Portuguese: UEFA–CONMEBOL Desafio de Clubes) is a football match organised by CONMEBOL and UEFA. The match is contested by the winners of the South American and European second-tier competitions UEFA Europa League and CONMEBOL Sudamericana, respectively. Organised as an annual one-off match, it is a equivalent to the former Supercopa Euroamericana, which featured the winners of the South American and European second-tier competitions. The competition was launched in 2023 as part of a renewed partnership between CONMEBOL and UEFA.

History

On 12 February 2020, UEFA and CONMEBOL signed a renewed memorandum of understanding meant to enhance cooperation between the two organisations. As part of the agreement, a joint UEFA–CONMEBOL committee examined the possibility of staging European–South American intercontinental matches, for both men's and women's football and across various age groups.[2] On 15 December 2021, UEFA and CONMEBOL again signed a renewed memorandum of understanding lasting until 2028, which included specific provisions on opening a joint office in London and the potential organisation of various football events.[3]

Following a series of new events between teams from the two confederations, on 7 July 2023, UEFA and CONMEBOL confirmed that the UEFA Europa League and CONMEBOL Sudamericana winners would face each other in an intercontinental match, with the agreement initially for a pilot edition starting on 19 July 2023 at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán in Seville, Spain.[1] The UEFA–CONMEBOL Club Challenge can be considered a successor to the Supercopa Euroamericana, played in 2015 for the first time and organised by American satellite-television company DirecTV, as a friendly football tournament, until in 2017, when the match was cancelled, after the crash of LaMia Flight 2933, carrying the majority of the Chapecoense squad on their way to the first leg of the 2016 Copa Sudamericana finals.[4]

Supercopa Euroamericana (predecessor)

See main article: Supercopa Euroamericana. There are two previous encounters between the champions of the UEFA Europa League and the Copa Sudamericana that took place in 2015 and 2016 under the name of Supercopa Euroamericana, but both are considered friendlies.[5] The two matches were as follows:

2015

In the 2015 Supercopa Euroamericana: River Plate, the 2014 Copa Sudamericana champions, faced Sevilla, the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League champions.

2016

In the 2016 Supercopa Euroamericana: Sevilla, the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League champions, faced Santa Fe, the 2015 Copa Sudamericana champions.

Results

Results by confederation

Results by confederation
ConfederationWinnersRunners-up
CONMEBOL01
UEFA10

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: UEFA and CONMEBOL launch Club Challenge between winners of UEFA Europa League and CONMEBOL Sudamericana. UEFA.com . . 7 July 2023 . 7 July 2023.
  2. Web site: UEFA and CONMEBOL renew Memorandum of Understanding to enhance cooperation . UEFA.com . . 12 February 2020 . 15 December 2021.
  3. Web site: UEFA and CONMEBOL renew and extend Memorandum of Understanding . UEFA.com . . 15 December 2021 . 15 December 2021.
  4. Web site: Brazil football team Chapecoense in Colombia plane crash. BBC. 29 November 2016.
  5. Web site: El UEFA CONMEBOL Desafío de Clubes 2023: Todo lo que necesitas saber. UEFA CONMEBOL 2023 Club Challenge: all you need to know. CONMEBOL. 7 July 2023. 7 July 2023. es.