Copa Uruguay

Copa Uruguay
Organising body	AUF
Founded	20 April 2022; 2 years ago
Region	Uruguay
Number of teams	58 (2024)
Qualifier for	Supercopa Uruguaya; (TBC)
Current champions	Defensor Sporting (2nd title)
Most successful club(s)	Defensor Sporting (2 titles)
Website	AUF
	2024 Copa Uruguay

The Copa Uruguay (officially Copa AUF Uruguay)^[1] is a knockout football competition in men's domestic Uruguayan football, starting in 2022.

The competition starts in June, with the winner of the cup qualifying for the following year's Supercopa Uruguaya, starting from the 2024 edition.^[1]^[2]^[3]

History

Historically, Uruguayan football never had a national cup tournament, aside from a competition called Torneo de Copa, which happened only in 1969.^[4] In 2018, teams started to mobilize in favour of the creation of a national cup,^[5] but nothing came of it.

On 20 April 2022, the Uruguayan Football Association announced the creation of the Copa AUF Uruguay, being approved by several clubs involved.^[1] The first edition of the competition, which was played from 22 June to 13 November 2022, was won by Defensor Sporting who defeated La Luz in the final.^[6]

Format

For its first edition in 2022, the competition was divided into two stages: a preliminary stage and the national stage.^[1]

In the preliminary stage, teams from the amateur lower leagues compete for 20 berths to the national stage. In the first phase of the national stage, 24 teams from the Primera División Amateur and Segunda División enter the competition, for a total of 48 teams which are divided into 24 ties, with the winners qualifying for the second round. The 24 second round winners advance to play against each other to define 12 winners into the third phase.^[1]

32 teams play in the third phase: 12 winners from the previous phase, 16 professional teams from the Primera División, the best relegated team of Primera División the previous season, the defending champion of the Primera División Amateur and the defending champion and runner-up of the Copa Nacional de Clubes. From this point onwards, the winners play against each other in two-legged knockout phases, with the Final being played in a single match.^[1]

The winner of the competition is also awarded a US$ 100,000 prize.^[1]

Results

Ed.	Year	Champion	Final score	Runners-up	Final venue
1	2022	Defensor Sporting	1–0	La Luz	Estadio Centenario, Montevideo
2	2023	Defensor Sporting	2–2 (4–2 p)	Montevideo City Torque	Estadio Centenario, Montevideo
3	2024				TBD

Performance by club

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning Years	Runners-up Years
Defensor Sporting	2	0	2022, 2023	—
La Luz	0	1	—	2022
Montevideo City Torque	0	1	—	2023

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g "La Copa AUF Uruguay fue aprobada por unanimidad y es una realidad" [The Copa AUF Uruguay was unanimously approved and is a reality] (in Spanish). AUF. 20 April 2022. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
^ "Histórico: nació la Copa Uruguay, que jugarán profesionales y amateurs de todo el país y tendrá un gran premio" [Historical: the Copa Uruguay is born, where professional and amateurs from the entire country will play and will have a great prize] (in Spanish). El País. 20 April 2022. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
^ "La Copa AUF Uruguay de 2023 comenzará la primera quincena de agosto" [The 2023 Copa AUF Uruguay will begin in the first fortnight of August]. La Diaria. 17 July 2023. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
^ "Cup Tournament 1969". RSSSF. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
^ "AUF y OFI se unen para un súper torneo con 64 equipos" [AUF and OFI join for a super tournament of 64 teams] (in Spanish). El Observador. 14 February 2018. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
^ "Copa AUF Uruguay: Defensor Sporting se llevó el título al vencer a La Luz 1-0 en la final" [Copa AUF Uruguay: Defensor Sporting took the title by beating La Luz 1–0 in the final] (in Spanish). FútbolUy. 13 November 2022. Retrieved 13 November 2022.