2019 Copa Libertadores de Beach Soccer
# 2019 Copa Libertadores de Beach Soccer

The 2019 CONMEBOL Libertadores de Beach Soccer was the fourth edition of the Copa Libertadores de Beach Soccer (known natively in Spanish as the Copa Libertadores de Futbol Playa), an annual continental beach soccer club tournament contested primarily between the champions of the domestic leagues of South American nations who are members of CONMEBOL.

The tournament took place in Luque, Paraguay, between 14 and 21 September 2019, and was organised by CONMEBOL in cooperation with the host association, the Paraguayan Football Association (APF). It was originally scheduled to take place from 13–20 October 2019 but a change of dates was announced on 13 June.

Brazilians Vitória were the defending champions but were eliminated at the group stage, ultimately finishing 10th. The title was won by fellow Brazilian club Vasco da Gama, who claimed their third title at the fourth attempt.

## Format

As per Regulations Article 15, the competition format consists of two phases: the Preliminary phase (Group phase) and the Final phase.

* Group phase: The 12 teams are drawn into three groups of four teams; in each group all teams compete in a round robin format. The group winners, runners-up and two best third placed teams advance to the quarter-finals of the final stage.
* Final phase: The Final phase consists of three knockout rounds (the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final) and consolations rounds (the nations knocked out of title winning contention play in a series of classification matches to decide fifth through twelfth place). All matches in the final stage are played in a knockout format.

## Teams

Twelve teams qualified to take part; each of the domestic league champions (or champions of specific Copa Libertadores qualification tournaments) from the ten South American nations which are members of CONMEBOL, plus an additional club from the host country and the defending champions.

| Association | Representatives | Qualification method |
| - | - | - |
| Argentina | Acassuso | 2019 Liga Nacional de Fútbol Playa champions. |
| Bolivia | Hamacas | 2019 Torneo Nacional de Fútbol Playa champions. |
| Brazil | Vitória (Brazil 1) | 2018 Copa Libertadores de Beach Soccer champions. |
| Brazil | Vasco da Gama (Brazil 2) | 2019 Campeonato Brasileiro de Beach Soccer champions. |
| Chile | CODE Iquique | |
| Colombia | Guaviare | 2019 Pre-Libertadores de Fútbol Playa champions. |
| Ecuador | Fluminense Blasa | 2019 Liga Nacional de Fútbol Playa Torneo Apertura champions. |
| Paraguay | San Bernardino (Paraguay 1) | 2019 Superlga de Fútbol Playa champions. |
| Paraguay | Cerro Porteño (Paraguay 2) | 2019 Copa Paraguay de Fútbol Playa champions. |
| Peru | Academia Tito Drago | 2019 Liga de Fútbol Playa Primera División champions. |
| Uruguay | Racing Club | 2019 Liga Uruguaya de Fútbol Playa Pre-Libertadores champions. |
| Venezuela | Fundación Monagas | 2019 Liga Nacional de Fútbol Playa champions. |

### Notes

* $^†$ As the national association defending champions, Brazil entered two teams. Vitória qualify as reigning champions and Vasco da Gama qualify as the Brazilian league champions.
* $^‡$ As the host country, Paraguay received an extra berth and entered two teams. San Bernardino qualify as the Paraguayan Superliga champions and Cerro Porteño qualify as the Copa Paraguay champions.

## Venue

One venue was used in the city of Luque, Gran Asunción.

* All matches took place at the Estadio de Fútbol de Playa, newly built to primarily host the 2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, located on the grounds of the Paraguayan Olympic Committee with a capacity of 3,150.

## Squads

Each team had to submit a squad of 12 players, including a minimum of two goalkeepers (Regulations Article 31).

## Draw

The draw to split the twelve teams into three groups of four took place on 20 August 2019 at 12:00 PYT (UTC–3) in Luque, Paraguay at the headquarters of the Paraguayan Football Association. The draw was conducted based on Regulations Article 16 as follows:

Initially, three teams were seeded and assigned to the head of the groups (Vitória automatically to Group A, the others via a draw from pot 1):

* To Group A: as 2018 Copa Libertadores champions, Vitória
* To Group B: as the club of the runner-up national association of the 2018 Copa Libertadores, Vasco da Gama
* To Group C: as champions of the host association, San Bernardino

The remaining nine teams were split into three pots of three based on the final placement of their national association's club in the previous edition of the championship, with the highest three (Argentina, Uruguay and Bolivia) placed in Pot 2, the next three (Colombia, Peru and Chile) placed in Pot 3 and the lowest two (Venezuela and Ecuador) in pot 4, alongside the additional Paraguayan club. From each pot, the first team drawn was placed into Group A, the second team drawn placed into Group B and the final team drawn placed into Group C. Clubs from the same association could not be drawn into the same group.

| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
| - | - | - | - |
| San Bernardino Vasco da Gama | Acassuso Racing Club Hamacas | Guaviare Academia Tito Drago CODE Iquique | Fundación Monagas Fluminense Blasa Cerro Porteño |

The draw resulted in the following groups:

Group A :

| Group A PosTeam A1 Vitória A2 Acassuso A3 Guaviare A4 Fundación Monagas | Group B PosTeam B1 Vasco da Gama B2 Racing Club B3 Academia Tito Drago B4 Cerro Porteño | Group C PosTeam C1 San Bernardino C2 Hamacas C3 CODE Iquique C4 Fluminense Blasa |
| - | - | - |

## Group stage

Each team earns three points for a win in regulation time, two points for a win in extra time, one point for a win in a penalty shoot-out, and no points for a defeat. The top two teams of each group, plus the two best ranked third-placed teams, advance to the quarter-finals.

### Tie-breakers

If two or more teams are equal on points, their rankings are determined as follows (Regulations Article 21):

* Goal difference in the matches played between the teams concerned;
* Number of goals scored in the matches played between the teams concerned;
* Goal difference in all group matches;
* Number of goals scored in all group matches;
* Drawing of lots by CONMEBOL.

All times are local, PYT (UTC–3).

### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | W+ | WP | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Fundación Monagas | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 11 | +2 | 7 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Acassuso | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 9 | +4 | 6 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | Guaviare | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 16 | −3 | 3 | Knockout stage |
| 4 | Vitória | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 13 | −3 | 0 | 9th–12th place play-offs |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | W+ | WP | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Vasco da Gama | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 9 | +13 | 9 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Cerro Porteño | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 23 | 9 | +14 | 6 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | Academia Tito Drago | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 20 | −13 | 3 | 9th–12th place play-offs |
| 4 | Racing Club | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 21 | −14 | 0 | 9th–12th place play-offs |

### Group C

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | W+ | WP | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | CODE Iquique | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 8 | +5 | 8 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | San Bernardino | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 7 | +9 | 6 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | Hamacas | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 7 | −1 | 3 | Knockout stage |
| 4 | Fluminense Blasa | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 19 | −13 | 0 | 9th–12th place play-offs |

### Ranking of third-placed teams

| Pos | Grp | Team | Pld | W | W+ | WP | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | C | Hamacas | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 7 | −1 | 3 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | A | Guaviare | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 16 | −3 | 3 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | B | Academia Tito Drago | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 20 | −13 | 3 | |

As per Regulations Article 17, it was decided the third place teams would take the following berths in the quarter-final draw:

* 1st Group A vs 2nd best third place team
* 1st Group B vs Best third place team
* 1st Group C vs 2nd Group A
* 2nd Group B vs 2nd Group C

## 9th–12th place play-offs

The worst third placed team plays the best fourth placed team for 9th place; the second best fourth placed team plays the worst fourth placed team for 11th place.

| 11th place match | 11th place match |
| - | - |
| 19 September | 19 September |
| Fluminense Blasa | 2 |
| Racing Club (a.e.t.) | 3 |
| 9th place match | 9th place match |
| 19 September | 19 September |
| Academia Tito Drago | w/o |
| Vitória | |

## Knockout stage

| 5th place match | 5th place match | 5th–8th place semi-finals | 5th–8th place semi-finals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Final | Final |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| | | | | 18 September | 18 September | | | |
| | | | | Fundación Monagas (p) | 2 (3) | | | |
| | | 19 September | 19 September | Guaviare | 2 (2) | 20 September | 20 September | | |
| | | Guaviare | 5 | | | Fundación Monagas | 1 | |
| | | San Bernardino | 4 | 18 September | 18 September | Cerro Porteño | 3 | |
| | | | | Cerro Porteño | 8 | | | | |
| 20 September | 20 September | | | San Bernardino | 4 | | | 21 September | 21 September |
| Guaviare | 5 | | | | | | | Cerro Porteño | 5 |
| CODE Iquique | 3 | | | 18 September | 18 September | | | Vasco da Gama | 7 |
| | | | | Vasco da Gama | 7 | | | | |
| | | 19 September | 19 September | Hamacas | 3 | 20 September | 20 September | | |
| 7th place match | 7th place match | Hamacas | 3 | | | Vasco da Gama (p) | 2 (2) | 3rd place match | 3rd place match |
| 20 September | 20 September | CODE Iquique | 8 | 18 September | 18 September | Acassuso | 2 (0) | 21 September | 21 September |
| San Bernardino | 5 | | | CODE Iquique | 4 | | | Fundación Monagas | 6 |
| Hamacas | 7 | | | Acassuso | 5 | | | Acassuso | 7 |

## Final standings

| Rank | Team | Result |
| - | - | - |
| 1 | Vasco da Gama | Champions (3rd title) |
| 2 | Cerro Porteño | Runners-up |
| 3 | Acassuso | Third place |
| 4 | Fundación Monagas | |
| 5 | Guaviare | |
| 6 | CODE Iquique | |
| 7 | Hamacas | |
| 8 | San Bernardino | |
| 9 | Academia Tito Drago | |
| 10 | Vitória | |
| 11 | Racing Club | |
| 12 | Fluminense Blasa | |
