# 2023 U-20 Copa Libertadores

The 2023 U-20 Copa CONMEBOL Libertadores (Spanish: Copa CONMEBOL Libertadores Sub-20 2023) was the 7th edition of the U-20 CONMEBOL Libertadores (also referred to as the U-20 Copa Libertadores), South America's premier under-20 club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. It was held in Chile from 1 to 16 July 2023.
Peñarol were the defending champions, having won the 2022 tournament, but were unable to retain their title after losing to Boca Juniors in the semi-finals, leading them to play the third place match against Cerro Porteño, which they also lost but on penalties. Boca Juniors defeated Independiente del Valle 2–0 in the final to win their first U-20 Copa Libertadores title. As winners of the 2023 U-20 Copa Libertadores, Boca Juniors earned the right to play against AZ, the winners of the 2022–23 UEFA Youth League, in the 2023 Under-20 Intercontinental Cup.

## Teams

The competition was contested by 12 teams: the title holders, the youth champions from each of the ten CONMEBOL member associations, and one additional team from the host association.
| Association | Team | Qualifying method | Apps | Previous best result |
| Argentina | Boca Juniors | 2022 Cuarta División (U-20) champions | 3rd | Runners-up (2011) |
| Bolivia | Always Ready | 2023 U-20 Copa Bolivia champions | 1st | — |
| Brazil | Palmeiras | 2022 Supercopa do Brasil Sub-20 champions | 1st | — |
| Chile (hosts) | O'Higgins (Chile 1) | 2022 Campeonato Nacional Proyección Apertura champions | 1st | — |
| Chile (hosts) | Huachipato (Chile 2) | 2022 Campeonato Nacional Proyección Clausura champions | 2nd | Group stage (2016 |
| Colombia | Envigado | 2022 Supercopa Juvenil champions | 1st | — |
| Ecuador | Independiente del Valle | 2022 Campeonato Nacional de Categorías Formativas U-19 champions | 7th | Champions (2020) |
| Paraguay | Cerro Porteño | 2023 U-20 Copa Libertadores qualifying play-off winners | 4th | Quarter-finals (2012) |
| Peru | Alianza Lima | 2022 Torneo de Promoción y Reserva champions | 3rd | Fourth place (2011) |
| Uruguay | Peñarol (holders) | 2022 U-20 Copa Libertadores champions | 2nd | Champions (2022) |
| Uruguay | Defensor Sporting | 2022 Campeonato Uruguayo Juvenil Divisional A U-19 runners-up | 2nd | Runners-up (2012) |
| Venezuela | Caracas | 2022 Liga FUTVE Junior U-20 champions | 3rd | Fourth place (2022) |
* Brazil (BRA): The 2022 Supercopa do Brasil Sub-20 was to be played between the winners of the 2022 Campeonato Brasileiro Sub-20 and the 2022 Copa do Brasil Sub-20, however, Palmeiras were directly proclaimed champions of the Supercopa as it had won both the Campeonato Brasileiro and the Copa do Brasil, thus securing the Brazilian berth reserved for the Supercopa champions.
* Paraguay (PAR): Paraguay's berth was decided in a final match between Olimpia, 2022 U-19 Torneo Apertura champions, and Cerro Porteño, 2022 U-19 Torneo Clausura champions.

### Squads

Players born between 1 January 2003 and 31 December 2007 were eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team could register a maximum of 20 and a minimum of 16 players, including at least 2 goalkeepers (Regulations Articles 47 and 50).

## Venues

Chile was named as host country of the tournament at the CONMEBOL Council meeting held on 30 September 2022. It was the first time that Chile hosted the tournament.
Coquimbo and La Serena were selected as host cities, with Estadio Francisco Sánchez Rumoroso and Estadio La Portada as the venues, respectively. The group stage matches were played at both venues, while the final stage matches were played entirely at Estadio La Portada.

## Draw

The draw was held on 1 June 2023, 12:00 PYST (UTC−4), at the CONMEBOL headquarters in Luque, Paraguay. The draw was conducted according to the following guidelines:
* The defending champions Peñarol were automatically assigned to position A1 in the group stage.
* The remaining 11 teams were seeded into four pots; one of two teams and three of three teams, based on the final placement of their national association's club in the previous edition of the tournament, in order to be drawn into three groups of four.
* Teams from the two best associations (Uruguay and Ecuador) were seeded into Pot 1 and drawn to the first position of groups B or C. The first team drawn was placed into Group B, the second team drawn placed into Group C.
* Teams from the next three associations (Paraguay, Venezuela and Argentina) were seeded into Pot 2 and drawn to the second position of groups A, B or C.
* Teams from the next three associations (Colombia, Peru, and Brazil) were seeded into Pot 3 and drawn to the third position of groups A, B or C.
* Teams from the last two associations (Chile 1 and Bolivia) and the additional team from the host association (Chile 2) were seeded into Pot 4 and drawn to the fourth position of groups A, B or C.
* From pots 2, 3 and 4, 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. Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group.
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
| Defensor Sporting Independiente del Valle | Cerro Porteño Caracas Boca Juniors | Envigado Alianza Lima Palmeiras | O'Higgins Always Ready Huachipato |
The draw resulted in the following groups:
Group A :
| Group A PosTeam A1 Peñarol A2 Caracas A3 Alianza Lima A4 O'Higgins | Group B PosTeam B1 Independiente del Valle B2 Cerro Porteño B3 Envigado B4 Always Ready | Group C PosTeam C1 Defensor Sporting C2 Boca Juniors C3 Palmeiras C4 Huachipato |

## Match officials

On 15 June 2023, CONMEBOL informed to its member associations the referees appointed for the tournament.

## Group stage

The winners of each group and the best runner-up among all groups advanced to the semi-finals.

### Tiebreakers

In the group stage, teams were ranked according to points earned (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers were applied in the following order (Regulations Articles 20, 21):
* Head-to-head result in games between tied teams;
** Head-to-head points in the matches played among the tied teams;
** Head-to-head goal difference in the matches played among the tied teams;
** Head-to-head goals scored in the matches played among the tied teams;
* Goal difference;
* Goals scored;
* Fewest number of red cards received;
* Fewest number of yellow cards received;
* Drawing of lots.
All match times were in CLT (UTC−4), as listed by CONMEBOL.

### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Peñarol | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 3 | +8 | 9 | Semi-finals |
| 2 | Caracas | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 6 | +2 | 6 | |
| 3 | O'Higgins (H) | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6 | −4 | 1 | |
| 4 | Alianza Lima | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | −6 | 1 | |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Independiente del Valle | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 1 | +9 | 9 | Semi-finals |
| 2 | Cerro Porteño | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 4 | +3 | 6 | Semi-finals |
| 3 | Envigado | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 3 | |
| 4 | Always Ready | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 11 | −10 | 0 | |

### Group C

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Boca Juniors | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 7 | Semi-finals |
| 2 | Palmeiras | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 5 | |
| 3 | Defensor Sporting | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 3 | |
| 4 | Huachipato (H) | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6 | −4 | 1 | |

### Ranking of group runners-up

| Pos | Grp | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | B | Cerro Porteño | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 4 | +3 | 6 | Semi-finals |
| 2 | A | Caracas | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 6 | +2 | 6 | |
| 3 | C | Palmeiras | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 5 | |

## Final stage

The final stage consisted of the semi-finals, the third place match and the final. All the matches were played with the use of the video assistant referee (VAR).
The semi-final matchups were:
* Group A winner vs. Group C winner
* Group B winner vs. Best runner-up
The semi-final winners and losers played in the final and third place match respectively. If tied after full time, extra time would not be played, and a penalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winner (Regulations Article 22).

### Bracket

| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| 13 July | 13 July |
| Peñarol | 0 |
| Peñarol | 0 | 16 July | 16 July |
| Boca Juniors | 1 | 16 July | 16 July |
| Boca Juniors | 1 | Boca Juniors | 2 |
| 13 July | 13 July | | Boca Juniors | 2 |
| 13 July | 13 July | Independiente del Valle | 0 |
| Independiente del Valle | 1 | Independiente del Valle | 0 |
| Cerro Porteño | 0 | | |
| Cerro Porteño | 0 | Third place | Third place |
| | | 16 July | 16 July |
| | | Peñarol | 2 (2) |
| | | Cerro Porteño (p) | 2 (4) |

### Final
## Goalscorers

There were 65 goals scored in 22 matches, for an average of 2.95 goals per match.
4 goals
* Santiago Díaz (Peñarol)
* Maelo Rentería (Independiente del Valle)
3 goals
* Mauricio Benítez (Boca Juniors)
* Néstor Jiménez (Caracas)
* Thalys (Palmeiras)
2 goals
* Fabricio Arce (Cerro Porteño)
* Matteo Copelotti (Defensor Sporting)
* Nahuel De Armas (Peñarol)
* Juan José Giménez (Cerro Porteño)
* Maximiliano Gutiérrez (Huachipato)
* José Klinger (Independiente del Valle)
* Youri Ochoa (Independiente del Valle)
* Ignacio Rodríguez (Boca Juniors)
* José Sequera (Caracas)
1 goal
* Ángel Aguilera (Cerro Porteño)
* Bryant Albizo (Caracas)
* Allan (Palmeiras)
* Sebastián Aranda (Alianza Lima)
* Keny Arroyo (Independiente del Valle)
* Rodrigo Cabrera (Defensor Sporting)
* Esteban Calderón (O'Higgins)
* Eduardo Correa (Peñarol)
* Mathías De Ritis (Peñarol)
* Lautaro Di Lollo (Boca Juniors)
* Dramané Diarra (Cerro Porteño)
* Rubio España (Envigado)
* Estêvão (Palmeiras)
* Alexis Fariña (Cerro Porteño)
* Joaquín Ferreira (Peñarol)
* Nahuel Génez (Boca Juniors)
* Gilberto Júnior (Palmeiras)
* Santiago Homenchenko (Peñarol)
* Washington Lima (Defensor Sporting)
* Andrés Madruga (Peñarol)
* Martín Maturana (O'Higgins)
* Patrik Mercado (Independiente del Valle)
* Pablo Nongoy (Peñarol)
* Daniel Padilla (Caracas)
* Kendry Páez (Independiente del Valle)
* Moisés Paniagua (Always Ready)
* Tobías Portillo (Cerro Porteño)
* Lucciano Reinoso (Caracas)
* Adama Noss Traoré (Cerro Porteño)
* Leandro Umpiérrez (Peñarol)