# 1981 Copa Interamericana

The 1981 Copa Interamericana was the 8th edition of the Copa Interamericana, the football competition co-organized by CONCACAF and CONMEBOL between the winners of the previous season's two major club tournaments in the Americas, the CONCACAF Champions' Cup and the Copa Libertadores.
The competition was contested in two-legged home-and-away format and a play-off between Mexican team UNAM, the 1980 CONCACAF Champions' Cup champions, and Uruguayan team Nacional, the 1980 Copa Libertadores champions. The first leg was hosted by UNAM on 25 March 1981 at Estadio Olímpico Universitario in Mexico City, the second leg was hosted by Nacional on 8 April 1981 at Estadio Centenario in Montevideo, while the play-off was hosted at a neutral site on 13 May 1981 at the Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles.
UNAM defeated Nacional 6–5 on aggregate to win their first Copa Interamericana title.

## Teams

| Team | Qualification | Previous participations (bold indicates winners) |
| UNAM | Winners of the 1980 CONCACAF Champions' Cup | None |
| Nacional | Winners of the 1980 Copa Libertadores | 1 (1971) |

## Format

The Copa Interamericana is played on a home-and-away two-legged basis, with the Copa Libertadores champions hosting the second leg. If tied on aggregate, the away goals rule would not be used, and a play-off match would be played. If still tied after the play-off match, the penalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winners.

## Venues

| 1st leg | 2nd leg | Play-off |
| Mexico City | Montevideo | Los Angeles |
| Estadio Olímpico Universitario | Estadio Centenario | Memorial Coliseum |
| Capacity: 69,000 | Capacity: 60,235 | Capacity: 93,607 |

## Matches
### First leg
#### Summary

In the 5th minute, Hugo Sánchez opened the scoring for UNAM. In the second half, Nacional fought back and found an equaliser from Víctor Espárrago, scored in the 57th minute. Ricardo Ferretti then restored UNAM's lead, to make the score 2–1 in the 60th minute. Hugo Sánchez got his second goal of the match in the 85th minute.

#### Details
### Second leg
#### Summary

The game was goalless until the 70th minute mark, when Wilmar Cabrera put Nacional ahead, in the 77th José Cabrera scored to make it 2–0, then Wilmar Cabrera in the 81st minute scored his second of the match to make it 3–0. However, the game was to end at 3–1 after Gustavo Vargas with three minutes to go scored for UNAM, forcing a play-off.

#### Details
### Play-off
#### Summary

The play-off leg finally went ahead after a month with Los Angeles as the neutral site. Nacional opened the scoring at the 17th minute from José Cabrera. Ricardo Ferretti equalised at the 69th minute. In the 89th minute, Gustavo Vargas scored the winning goal for UNAM.

#### Details

| UNAM | Nacional |
| GK | Jorge Espinoza |
| DF | Rafael Amador |
| DF | Gustavo Vargas |
| DF | Jorge Paolino |
| DF | Pablo Luna |
| MF | Enrique López Zarza |
| MF | José Luis López |
| MF | Manuel Manzo |
| MF | Manuel Negrete |
| FW | Hugo Sánchez |
| FW | Ricardo Ferretti |
| Manager: ||
| Bora Milutinović ||
| GK | Rodolfo Rodríguez |
| DF | José H. Moreira |
| DF | Aguirre |
| DF | Juan C. Blanco |
| DF | Wilmar Cabrera |
| MF | Víctor Espárrago |
| MF | Arsenio Luzardo | 84' |
| MF | José R. Cabrera |
| FW | Alberto Bica |
| FW | Eduardo de la Peña |
| FW | Julio C. Morales |
| Substitutes: ||
| FW | Denis Milar | 84' |
| Manager: ||
| Juan Mujica ||