1972 Copa Libertadores

1972 Copa Libertadores de América 1972 Copa Libertadores da América
Tournament details
Dates	January 30 – May 24
Teams	20 (from 10 confederations)
Final positions
Champions	Independiente (3rd title)
Runners-up	Universitario
Tournament statistics
Matches played	68
Goals scored	175 (2.57 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Oswaldo Ramírez (6) Percy Rojas (6) Teófilo Cubillas (6) Toninho (6)
← 1971 1973 →

The 1972 Copa Libertadores was the 13th edition of the Copa Libertadores, CONMEBOL's the annual club tournament. Independiente of Argentina defeated Universitario de Deportes of Peru in the finals, and became the second team in the tournament's history to win three title. They would go on and face the winner of the 1971–72 European Cup in the Intercontinental Cup.

Format

The tournament was divided into three phases. The first phase had 19 teams divided into four round-robin groups of four and one group of three (defending champions Nacional received a bye to the second phase). Each group had clubs from two countries. The winners of each group advanced the second phase. Five teams joined the defending champions in two round-robin groups of three. The winners of each group advance to play in the finals. The winner of the finals, and tournament champions, are determined by points (two for a win, one for tie).

Qualified teams

Country	Team	Qualify method
Argentina 2 berths	Independiente	1971 Metropolitan Championship winners
	Rosario Central	1971 National Championship winners
Bolivia 2 berths	Oriente Petrolero	1971 Copa Simón Bolívar winners
	Chaco Petrolero	1971 Copa Simón Bolívar runners-up
Brazil 2 berth	Atlético Mineiro	1971 Campeonato Brasileiro winners
	São Paulo	1971 Campeonato Brasileiro runners-up
Chile 2 berths	Unión San Felipe	1971 Primera División winners
	Universidad de Chile	1971 Primera División runners-up
Colombia 2 berths	Santa Fe	1971 Campeonato Profesional winners
	Atlético Nacional	1971 Campeonato Profesional runners-up
Ecuador 2 berths	Barcelona	1971 Ecuadorian league winners
	América de Quito	1971 Ecuadorian league runners-up
Paraguay 2 berths	Cerro Porteño	1971 Primera División winners
	Olimpia	1971 Primera División runners-up
Peru 2 berths	Universitario	1971 Torneo Descentralizado winners
	Alianza Lima	1971 Torneo Descentralizado runners-up
Uruguay 1+1 berth	Nacional	1971 Copa Libertadores champions
	Peñarol	1971 Primera División runners-up
Venezuela 2 berths	Valencia	1971 Venezuelan Primera División winners
	Deportivo Italia	1971 Venezuelan Primera División runners-uo

Draw

The champions and runners-up of each football association were drawn into the same group along with another football association's participating teams. Two clubs from Uruguay competed as Nacional was champion of the 1971 Copa Libertadores. They entered the tournament in the Semifinals.

Group Stage

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation		IND	ROC	SF	NAC
1	Independiente	6	4	2	0	13	5	+8	10	Qualified to the Semifinals			2–0	2–0	2–0
2	Rosario Central	6	3	2	1	8	5	+3	8			2–2		2–0	3–1
3	Santa Fe	6	1	2	3	4	9	−5	4			2–4	0–0		1–1
4	Atlético Nacional	6	0	2	4	3	9	−6	2			1–1	0–1	0–1

Group 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation		BAR	AME	ORI	CHA
1	Barcelona	6	3	3	0	8	3	+5	9	Qualified to the Semifinals			2–1	1–1	3–0
2	América de Quito	6	3	1	2	9	7	+2	7			0–0		3–0	1–0
3	Oriente Petrolero	6	2	2	2	10	7	+3	6			0–0	4–2		5–0
4	Chaco Petrolero	6	1	0	5	3	13	−10	2			1–2	1–2	1–0

Group 3

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation		SÃO	CER	OLI	MIN
1	São Paulo	6	3	2	1	12	6	+6	8	Qualified to the Semifinals			4–0	3–1	0–0
2	Cerro Porteño	6	2	2	2	7	11	−4	6			3–2		1–3	1–0
3	Olimpia	6	2	2	2	7	8	−1	6			0–1	1–1		2–2[a]
4	Atlético Mineiro	6	0	4	2	5	6	−1	4			2–2	1–1	0–0

Group 4

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation		UNI	UCH	ALI	USF
1	Universitario	6	3	2	1	9	6	+3	8	Qualified to the Semifinals			2–1	2–1	3–1
2	Universidad de Chile	6	3	0	3	12	12	0	6			1–0		2–3	2–1
3	Alianza Lima	6	2	2	2	10	10	0	6			2–2	3–4		1–0
4	Unión San Felipe	6	1	2	3	5	8	−3	4			0–0	3–2	0–0

Group 5

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation		PEÑ	ITA	VAL
1	Peñarol	4	4	0	0	12	3	+9	8	Qualified to the Semifinals			5–1	4–1
2	Deportivo Italia	4	1	1	2	4	7	−3	3			0–1		2–0
3	Valencia	4	0	1	3	3	9	−6	1			1–2	1–1

Semifinals

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation		UNI	NAC	PEÑ
1	Universitario	4	1	2	1	9	7	+2	4	Qualified to the Final			3–0	2–3
2	Nacional	4	1	2	1	7	7	0	4			3–3		1–1
3	Peñarol	4	1	2	1	5	7	−2	4			1–1	0–3

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation		IND	SÃO	BAR
1	Independiente	4	2	1	1	4	2	+2	5	Qualified to the Final			2–0	1–0[a]
2	São Paulo	4	1	2	1	2	3	−1	4			1–0		1–1
3	Barcelona	4	0	3	1	2	3	−1	3			1–1	0–0

Finals

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Independiente	2	1	1	0	2	1	+1	3
2	Universitario	2	0	1	1	1	2	−1	1

May 17, 1972

Universitario	0 – 0	Independiente

Estadio Nacional
Lima, Peru

Attendance: 45,000

Referee: Marques (Brazil)

May 24, 1972

Independiente	2 – 1	Universitario
Maglioni 6' 61'		Rojas 79'

Estadio de Independiente
Avellaneda, Argentina

Attendance: 55,000

Referee: Favilli Neto (Brazil)

Champion

Copa Libertadores 1972 Champions
Independiente Third title