The Copa Sudamericana is about to start and excitement is in the air! This football tournament is an excellent opportunity for teams from different South American countries to compete for the much-coveted season title.
Although Brazilian teams will not be present in the first phase, sports lovers can expect a lot of rivalry and quality on the field. If you want to follow the games, continue reading here at Bem Informado to find out how to watch and understand how the tournament works.
First phase of the tournament
The Copa Sudamericana games will be broadcast on television, both on pay TV and free-to-air TV. The ESPN channel holds the rights to broadcast the competition from the preliminary phase to the grand final of the season, allowing only fans who have the broadcaster on their pay TV operators to watch the first phase games.
The SBT channel acquired the rights to the secondary competition from Conmebol, after having surprised by purchasing them from Libertadores in the previous season. The broadcaster will show the South American Championship from the group stage to the final, focusing on the Brazilian teams' games. However, as the first phase does not feature Brazilian teams, SBT will not broadcast these games.
How to watch Sul-Americana 2023 live online
Fans can watch the Copa Sudamericana games not only on TV, but also on the internet. There are several streaming platforms available for broadcasting football matches. The Star+ streaming service shows the games live to its subscribers across Brazil, according to the competition calendar. To access the games, fans can visit the platform's website (www.starplus.com) or download the corresponding application on your mobile devices.
Another streaming platform that has the broadcast rights to the first phase of the competition is Paramount+. However, the service is only available to subscribers and can be accessed through the platform's website (www.paramountplus.com/br) or applications for mobile devices.
Finally, the games shown by SBT can also be watched for free on the broadcaster's website (www.sbt.com.br). To do this, simply access the company portal, click on the “LIVE” option written in white and red and play the video that appears in the middle of the screen.
How does the Copa Sudamericana work?
Thirty-two teams from Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela compete in the first phase of the Copa Sudamericana, football's secondary competition. Organized by Conmebol, the tournament begins with the preliminary phase – first phase – played in a single match, where the sixteen winners advance to the group stage.
The group stage is made up of the 12 teams from Brazil and Argentina, in addition to the 16 winners of the preliminary stage in the competition. The group stage draw will determine the eight groups of four each. There will be six rounds, where the squads face each other twice.
Only the leaders of each group advance to the round of 16. In the round of 16, those classified in the group stage will face the teams that finish third in the Libertadores groups. For the Conmebol draw, they will be placed in pot 1 and pot 2, respectively. From there, they advance to the quarterfinals, semifinals and the final.
With the exception of the final, all games in the final phase are played round-trip.
