1960 Copa Libertadores

1960 Copa de Campeones

1960 Copa de Campeones de América 1960 Copa do Campeones da América
Tournament details
Dates	April 19 - June 19
Teams	7 (from 7 confederations)
Final positions
Champions	Peñarol (1st title)
Runners-up	Olimpia
Tournament statistics
Matches played	13
Goals scored	39 (3 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Alberto Spencer (7 goals)
1961 →

The 1960 Copa de Campeones de América was the first staging of the Copa de Campeones, usually known in the modern era as the Copa Libertadores, CONMEBOL's premier club tournament. Seven association's clubs entered the first competition, with three not sending a representative. The first match of the tournament was played between Uruguayan side Peñarol and Bolivian side Jorge Wilstermann on April 19 in Montevideo, Uruguay.

During that game, Ausberto García of Jorge Wilstermann became the first player to move the ball in the tournament setting the motions for what is to become one of the most prestigious competitions in the world. Carlos Borges of Peñarol scored the first goal of the tournament, with fellow teammate and legendary figure Alberto Spencer scoring the first hat-trick^[1].

Peñarol would go to become the first South American club champion after defeating the Olimpia in the finals. With the subsequent results on later editions, Peñarol became the most successful club in the competition until 1973.

Background

CONMEBOL, the governing body of the sport in South America, had been formed in 1916, but for the first forty-three years of its existence, its member associations played only friendly matches against each other, with no prizes at stake. In 1958, however, José Ramos de Freitas, the confederation's president, finally set into motion a competition open to all national champions of the continent, with a trophy to be awarded to the winners. The South American Championship of Champions was the inspiration for the idea to take fruit and formation. Although all national association's champions were eligible to participate, only seven chose to do so: Bahia of Brazil, Jorge Wilstermann of Bolivia, Millonarios of Colombia, Olimpia of Paraguay, Peñarol of Uruguay, San Lorenzo of Argentina and Universidad de Chile of Chile. Peru and Venezuela did not send their respective national league champions since the tournament received general lack of interest from its associations, and Ecuador did not have a national champion to send. The first edition of the Copa de Campeones aroused no great accompaniment to the press particularly in Pacific Rim countries and in Brazil and Argentina.^[2]

Qualified teams

Country	Team	Qualification method
Argentina 1 berth	San Lorenzo	1959 Primera División champion
Bolivia 1 berth	Jorge Wilstermann	1959 Torneo Nacional champion
Brazil 1 berth	Bahia	1959 Taça Brasil champion
Chile 1 berth	Universidad de Chile	1959 Primera División champion
Colombia 1 berth	Millonarios	1959 DIMAYOR champion
Paraguay 1 berth	Olimpia	1959 Primera División champion
Uruguay 1 berth	Peñarol	1959 Primera División champion

Format

Each match-up was a two-team group stage. Wins were awarded two points, 1 point for a draw, and no points for a loss. The team with the most points after a home and away game advanced to the next stage. If the teams still remained tied, goal difference will become a factor. A one-game playoff would be implemented in case the teams are still tied. A draw of lots was to become the last solution to breaking a tie.

First round

Due to there being an odd number of teams in the competition, Olimpia received a bye and thus reached the semi-finals without having played a match in the competition (their predetermined opponents, Universitario of Peru, did not confirm their participation). The series between San Lorenzo and Bahia finished in a draw on points and the group was decided on goal difference in which the Argentines were allowed through to the semi-finals. Peñarol and Millonarios completed the semi-final line-up after convincing victories over Jorge Wilstermann and Universidad de Chile, respectively.

There was much publicity in Montevideo as the Bolivian champions Jorge Wilstermann arrived four days ahead of the historic, first ever match of the competition. Unlike what was happening in the five other countries of the competitors, the tournament was receiving a lot of coverage from the Uruguayan media. The President of the Bolivian Football Federation, Valera Cámara, arrived in Montevideo nine days before the game to prepare all the details for the stay of the football champion of his country. He also used the occasion to promote the Campeonato Sudamericano that Bolivia was going to organize in 1961 (eventually held in 1963) and to confirmed the matches Bolivia was going to play against Uruguay for the qualifers of the 1962 FIFA World Cup to be held in Chile. Pablo Pérez Estrada, president of Jorge Wilstermann, arrived on April 13.^[3]

The 1972 edition of the Journal Estadio de Chile mentioned that the humiliating elimination of Universidad de Chile was attributed to the exhaustion of the team. Estadio mentions that by that time the interest of the La U executives was to take the Chilean champion for an extensive tour to Europe that was extended, on their return, with some more friendly matches in Central America. The Chilean press, highly critical by the 0-6 thrashing in Santiago, labeled Universidad de Chile as a "team of tourists" and even gave them an alluding cartoon.

Group 1

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
San Lorenzo	2	1	0	1	5	3	+2	2
Bahia	2	1	0	1	3	5	−2	2

April 20, 1960	San Lorenzo	3–0	Bahia	Palacio Ducó, Buenos Aires Attendance: ≈10,000 Referee: Esteban Marino (Uruguay)
	Rossi Ruiz Sanfilippo

---

May 3, 1960	Bahia	3–2	San Lorenzo	Estádio Fonte Nova, Salvador Attendance: ≈18,000 Referee: Eustasio Catebeke (Paraguay)
	Carlitos Flavio Marito		Sanfilippo

Group 2

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Peñarol	2	1	1	0	8	2	+6	3
Jorge Wilstermann	2	0	1	1	2	8	−6	1

April 19, 1960	Peñarol	7–1	Jorge Wilstermann	Estadio Centenario, Montevideo Attendance: ≈35,000 Referee: Carlos Robles (Chile)
	Borges  13', 27' Spencer  35', 58', 67', 90' Cubilla  20'		Alcólcer  49'

---

April 30, 1960	Jorge Wilstermann	1–1	Peñarol	Estadio Hernando Siles, La Paz Attendance: ≈30,000 Referee: José Luis Praddaude (Argentina)
	García  55'		Cubilla  43'

Group 3

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Millonarios	2	2	0	0	7	0	+7	4
Universidad de Chile	2	0	0	2	0	7	−7	0

May 8, 1960	Universidad de Chile	0–6	Millonarios	Estadio Nacional, Santiago Attendance: ≈18,000 Referee: Juan Carlos Armental (Uruguay)
			Klinger Pizarro Micheli Larraz

---

May 15, 1960	Millonarios	1–0	Universidad de Chile	Estadio El Campín, Bogotá Attendance: ≈25,000 Referee: Juan Carlos Armental (Uruguay)
	Micheli

Semifinals

All matches from this stage of the competition onwards resulted in draws except for two. Both semi-final matches of semifinal group A finished in a draw and thus it went into a play-off on a neutral venue. Chile was designated as the venue in which a tie-breaking playoff would be contested in case there was a tie on points. However, the 1960 Valdivia earthquake forced a change of location; Peñarol didn't accept the playoff to be held in Asunción. San Lorenzo, however, allowed the play-off to be held in the home ground of Peñarol in exchange for $100.000. José Sanfilippo later recalled:

“

With regard to the position taken by our executives on the third game played in Uruguay, Nene said, "I told them (San Lorenzo boardmembers) no! To play again in Montevideo was like going to the lion's mouth", but they didn't listen to me and they accepted the proposal. Their first goal was trout. To put it bluntly, we were screwed over. The Uruguayans thought, "If these idiots were so accepting to play in the 'Centenario', then we can not go easy on them". And then the Paraguayan referee Dimas Larrosa called everything against us all the time. Before, the 'lanyards' usually won and thanks to the bad leadership we had, we were left with nothing. The reality is that the game was given to them for a few bucks."

”

Olimpia secured the second place in the final by thumping Millonarios at the second leg.

Semifinal A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Peñarol	2	0	2	0	2	2	0	2
San Lorenzo	2	0	2	0	2	2	0	2

May 18, 1960	Peñarol	1–1	San Lorenzo	Estadio Centenario, Montevideo Attendance: ≈55,000 Referee: Carlos Robles (Chile)
	Linazza  2'		Boggio  18'

---

May 24, 1960	San Lorenzo	0–0	Peñarol	Palacio Ducó, Buenos Aires Attendance: ≈15,000 Referee: Carlos Robles (Chile)

---

May 29, 1960 Playoff	Peñarol	2–1	San Lorenzo	Estadio Centenario, Montevideo Attendance: ≈45,000 Referee: José Dimas Larrosa (Paraguay)
	Spencer  61', 89'		Sanfilippo  86'

Semifinal B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Olimpia	2	1	1	0	5	1	+4	3
Millonarios	2	0	1	1	1	5	−4	1

May 8, 1960	Millonarios	0–0	Olimpia	Estadio El Campín, Bogotá Attendance: ≈35,000 Referee: José Antonio Sundheim (Colombia)

---

May 15, 1960	Olimpia	5–1	Millonarios	Estadio Manuel Ferreira, Asunción Attendance: ≈35,000 Referee: José Luis Praddaude (Argentina)
	Doldán Melgarejo Recalde Noriega		Pizzaro

Finals

Main article: 1960 Copa de Campeones Finals

The finals were contested between Peñarol and Olimpia over two legs, one at each participating club's stadium. The first leg took place at the Estadio Centenario in Montevideo in which the Manyas won 1–0 thanks to an Alberto Spencer goal late in the game. The second leg was played in the Estadio Manuel Ferreira in Asunción. After leading 1–0 for the majority of the match, Luis Cubilla scored the equalizer with only six minutes left on the match to give Peñarol the trophy of the first edition of the competition.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Peñarol	2	1	1	0	2	1	+1	3
Olimpia	2	0	1	1	1	2	−1	1

June 12, 1960	Peñarol	1–0	Olimpia	Estadio Centenario, Montevideo Attendance: 44,690 Referee: Carlos Robles (Chile)
	Spencer  79'

---

June 19, 1960	Olimpia	1–1	Peñarol	Estadio Manuel Ferreira, Asunción Attendance: 35,000 Referee: José Luis Praddaude (Argentina)
	Recalde  28'		Cubilla  83'

Champion

Copa de Campeones 1960 Winner
Peñarol First Title

Top goalscorers

Pos	Player	Team	Goals
1	Alberto Spencer	Peñarol	7
2	Rubén Pizarro	Millonarios	4
	José Sanfilippo	San Lorenzo	4
4	Luis Cubilla	Peñarol	3
5	Carlos Borges	Peñarol	2
	Luis Doldán	Olimpia	2
	Marino Klinger	Millonarios	2
	Hipólito Recalde	Olimpia	2

References

1. ^ "O Campeão" (in Portuguese). Bola n@ Ãrea. http://www.bolanaarea.com/libertadores_1960.htm. Retrieved May 22, 2010. 
2. ^ Carluccio, Jose (September 2, 2007). "Copa Libertadores de América 1960" (in Spanish). Historia y Fútbol. http://historiayfutbol.obolog.com/copa-libertadores-america-1960-25842. Retrieved May 22, 2010. 
3. ^ Garrido, Atilio. Yo fui testigo aquel 19 de Abril de 1960. 

Footnotes

A. ^ Brazil did not have a national league at the time. Instead they sent their Taça Brasil champion.

External links

• 1960 Copa Libertadores at RSSSF
• 1960 Copa Libertadores at Terra
• 1960 Copa Libertadores at Soccer Mond
• 1960 Copa Libertadores at Torcida
• 1960 Copa Libertadores at www.libertadores.ru