1976 Copa Libertadores

1976 Copa Libertadores de América
Tournament details
Dates	February 25 – July 30
Teams	21 (from 10 associations)
Final positions
Champions	Cruzeiro (1st title)
Runners-up	River Plate
Tournament statistics
Matches played	76
Goals scored	208 (2.74 per match)
	← 1975 1977 →

The Copa Libertadores 1976 was the 17th edition of the Copa Libertadores, CONMEBOL's annual international club tournament. The tournament began on February 23 and ended on July 30.

Cruzeiro won the competition, being the first Brazilian team, after Pelé's Santos, to win the continental competition. During the tournament, Cruzeiro suffered a great setback: the loss of the player Roberto Batata, who died in a car accident.

Qualified teams[]

Country	Team	Qualification method
Argentina 2 + 1 berths	Independiente	1975 Copa Libertadores champion
	River Plate	1975 Metropolitano champion 1975 Nacional champion
	Estudiantes	1975 Metropolitano runner-up
Bolivia 2 berths	Guabirá	1975 Copa Simón Bolívar champion
Bolivia 2 berths	Bolívar	1975 Copa Simón Bolívar runner-up
Brazil 2 berths	Internacional	1975 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A champion
Brazil 2 berths	Cruzeiro	1975 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A runner-up
Chile 2 berths	Unión Española	champion
Chile 2 berths	Palestino	1975 Miniliga Pré-Libertadores champion
Colombia 2 berths	Santa Fe	champion
Colombia 2 berths	Millonarios	runner-up
Ecuador 2 berths	LDU Quito	1975 Serie A champion
Ecuador 2 berths	Deportivo Cuenca	1975 Serie A runner-up
Paraguay 2 berths	Olimpia	champion
Paraguay 2 berths	Sportivo Luqueño	runner-up
Peru 2 berths	Alianza Lima	1975 Descentralizado champion
Peru 2 berths	Alfonso Ugarte	1975 Descentralizado runner-up
Uruguay 2 berths	Peñarol	1975 Primera División champion
Uruguay 2 berths	Nacional	1975 Primera División runner-up
Venezuela 2 berths	Portuguesa	1975 Venezuelan champion
Venezuela 2 berths	Deportivo Galicia	1975 Venezuelan Championship runner-up

The participating teams were divided into five groups, in which teams of the same country were placed in the same group. Each country was represented by two teams. The countries were paired as follows:

Group 1: Argentina and Venezuela
Group 2: Bolivia and Ecuador
Group 3: Brazil and Paraguay
Group 4: Colombia and Peru
Group 5: Chile and Uruguay

Group stage[]

Group 1 (Argentina, Venezuela)[]

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	RIV	EST	POR	DGA
River Plate	6	5	0	1	10	3	+7	10	Qualified to Semi-Finals	—	1–0	2–1	4–1
Estudiantes	6	4	1	1	11	3	+8	9		1–0	—	3–0	4–0
Portuguesa	6	2	1	3	8	11	−3	5		0–2	2–2	—	3–1
Deportivo Galicia	6	0	0	6	3	15	−12	0		0–1	0–1	1–2	—

Source:^{[citation needed]}

Group 2 (Bolivia, Ecuador)[]

Group 2 standings
Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	LDQ	CDC	BOL	GUA
LDU Quito	6	3	2	1	10	5	+5	8	Qualified to the 1st Place Playoff	—	1–1	2–1	4–0
Deportivo Cuenca	6	3	2	1	9	6	+3	8	Qualified to the 1st Place Playoff	0–0	—	3–1	1–0
Bolívar	6	3	0	3	16	11	+5	6		3–2	4–2	—	7–1
Guabirá	6	1	0	5	2	15	−13	2		0–1	0–2	1–0	—

Source:^{[citation needed]}

Group 3 (Brazil, Paraguay)[]

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	CRU	INT	OLI	SLU
Cruzeiro	6	5	1	0	20	9	+11	11	Qualified to Semi-Finals	—	5–4	4–1	4–1
Internacional	6	3	1	2	10	8	+2	7		0–2	—	1–0	3–0
Olimpia	6	1	2	3	7	11	−4	4		2–2	1–1	—	2–3
Sportivo Luqueño	6	1	0	5	5	14	−9	2		1–3	0–1	0–1	—

Source:^{[citation needed]}

Group 4 (Colombia, Peru)[]

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	ALI	MIL	AUG	ISF
Alianza Lima	6	3	2	1	8	4	+4	8	Qualified to Semi-Finals	—	2–1	0–0	3–0
Millonarios	6	2	2	2	8	5	+3	6		1–0	—	4–0	1–1
Alfonso Ugarte	6	1	4	1	5	8	−3	6		0–0	1–1	—	2–1
Santa Fe	6	1	2	3	7	11	−4	4		2–3	1–0	2–2	—

Source:^{[citation needed]}

Group 5 (Chile, Uruguay)[]

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	PEÑ	UES	PAL	NAC
Peñarol	6	3	2	1	7	4	+3	8	Qualified to Semi-Finals	—	2–0	2–1	1–1
Unión Española	6	3	2	1	5	3	+2	8		0–0	—	1–0	2–0
Palestino	6	2	1	3	5	6	−1	5		1–0	0–1	—	2–1
Nacional	6	0	3	3	5	9	−4	3		1–2	1–1	1–1	—

Source:^{[citation needed]}

1st Place Playoff[]

Playoff standings
Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	LDU Quito	1	1	0	0	2	1	+1	2	Qualified to the Semi-Finals
2	Deportivo Cuenca	1	0	0	1	1	2	−1	0

Source:^{[citation needed]}

April 22 First Stage	LDU Quito	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Deportivo Cuenca	showGuayaquil, Ecuador
	Carrera 66' 115'	Report	63'	Stadium: Estadio Modelo Alberto Spencer Herrera Attendance: 50,000 Referee: Óscar Veiro (Argentina)

Semi-finals[]

Group 1[]

Group 1 standings
Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	CRU	LDQ	ALI
Cruzeiro	4	4	0	18	3	+15	8	Qualified to the Final	—	4–1	7–1
LDU Quito	4	1	3	4	10	−6	2		1–3	—	2–1
Alianza Lima	4	1	3	4	13	−9	2		0–4	2–0	—

Source:^{[citation needed]}

Group 2[]

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	RIV	IND	PEÑ
River Plate	4	2	1	1	4	1	+3	5	Qualified to the Final	—	0–0	3–0
Independiente	4	2	1	1	2	1	+1	5		0–1	—	1–0
Peñarol	4	1	0	3	1	5	−4	2		1–0	0–1	—

Source:^{[citation needed]}

Playoffs[]

Date	Location	Home team	Score	Away team
16 July	Buenos Aires	River Plate	1 - 0	Independiente

Finals[]

July 21, 1976

Cruzeiro	4 – 1	River Plate
Nelinho 22' Palhinha 29', 40' Valdo 80'		Más 63'

Mineirão, Belo Horizonte

Attendance: 58,720 (65,000)

Referee: , Venezuela

July 28, 1976

River Plate	2 – 1	Cruzeiro
J. J. López 10' Pedro González 76'		Palhinha 48'

Monumental de Nuñez, Buenos Aires

Attendance: 90,000

Referee: , Uruguay

July 30, 1976

Cruzeiro	3 – 2	River Plate
Nelinho 24' Eduardo 55' Joãozinho 88'		Más 59' Urquiza 64'

Nacional, Santiago

Attendance: 40,000

Referee: , Chile

Copa Libertadores 1976 Champions
Cruzeiro 1st title

show v t Copa Libertadores
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Finals	1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
History Finals Historical table Records and statistics Top scorers Winning managers Winning players Broadcasters Trophy Qualifying method in Argentina

1976 Copa Libertadores

Contents

Qualified teams[]

Group stage[]

Group 1 (Argentina, Venezuela)[]

Group 2 (Bolivia, Ecuador)[]

Group 3 (Brazil, Paraguay)[]

Group 4 (Colombia, Peru)[]

Group 5 (Chile, Uruguay)[]

1st Place Playoff[]

Semi-finals[]

Group 1[]

Group 2[]

Playoffs[]

Finals[]

External links[]