Pre-Libertadores tournament

Pre-Libertadores tournament was a qualifying tournament played between clubs from Venezuela and Mexico to define two qualified clubs to the Copa Libertadores, it was held from 1998 to 2003.

The tournament consisted of two rounds, the first preliminary round called Selectivo Pre Pre-Libertadores played between Mexican clubs interested in participating, and the final round called Liguilla Pre-Libertadores played between two Venezuelan clubs and the best two Mexican clubs from the first round.

History

The tournament was an initiative of Mexican promoters, close to the FMF and the Televisa company, who sought to get Mexican teams into CONMEBOL continental club competition.^[1]

In 1997, Grupo Pegaso (founded by Alejandro Burillo Azcárraga^[2]), through promoter Eduardo Aguirre, began talks with the Venezuelan league clubs and the FVF to purchase the slots that corresponded to Venezuelan teams in the Copa Libertadores (2 direct slots at that time). Negotiations lasted until December of that year when the parties reached an agreement in a meeting held in Asunción, Paraguay; the two Venezuelan slots in the Copa Libertadores would be disputed in a qualifying tournament by two Venezuelan and two Mexican teams, in exchange, the Mexican side was to make a payment of US$200,000 to each Venezuelan team participating and US$80,000 to the FVF.^[3] The agreement had CONMEBOL's approval, however, CONCACAF's permission was still needed to allow the Mexican teams to participate.

In early January 1998, Rafael Esquivel, president of the FVF at the time, and his treasurer Emiliano Rodríguez travel to Mexico to finalize the details of the tournament and then to the United States to meet with CONCACAF authorities. Finally, CONCACAF authorized the participation of the Mexican teams and 3 February is announced as the start date of the tournament.^[4]

The competition was replaced by the InterLiga in 2004, as the qualification method for Mexican clubs.

Competition format

The first round called "Selectivo Pre Pre-Libertadores" was played between Mexican clubs interested in participating and the matches were held in the United States. The format of this round varied depending on the number of interested clubs each year, and the best two clubs qualified to the final round.

The final round called "Liguilla Pre-Libertadores" was played between four clubs, two from Venezuela defined through the Apertura and Clausura tournaments of the Venezuelan Primera División and the two clubs from Mexico defined by the first round. The Mexican and Venezuelan clubs faced each other in round-trip matches, except with the club from the same country. The best two in a round-robin format qualified directly to the group stage of the Copa Libertadores.

Editions

Selectivo Pre Pre-Libertadores

The first preliminary round between Mexican clubs, and played the year before the final round. The best two, qualified to the Liguilla Pre-Libertadores.

Edition	Qualified to Liguilla Pre-Libertadores		Teams
1998	Monterrey	Necaxa	10
1999	Atlas	América	5
2000	Cruz Azul	Atlante	5
2001	América	Morelia	5
2002	UNAM	Cruz Azul	6

Liguilla Pre-Libertadores

The final round to define two qualified clubs, during its 6 editions, 12 spots were disputed, of which 10 spots were won by the Mexican clubs and only two by the Venezuelan clubs.^[5]

Edition	Qualified to Copa Libertadores		Eliminated
1998	Guadalajara	América	Caracas	Atlético Zulia
1999	Monterrey	Estudiantes de Mérida	Necaxa	ULA
2000	Atlas	América	Deportivo Italchacao	Deportivo Táchira
2001	Cruz Azul	Deportivo Táchira	Deportivo Italchacao	Atlante
2002	América	Morelia	Caracas	Trujillanos
2003	UNAM	Cruz Azul	Estudiantes de Mérida	Nacional Táchira

References

1. Sen, Xochitl (10 January 2008). "El torneo incómodo" [The uncomfortable tournament]. espndeportes.espn.com (in Spanish). ESPN.
2. García, Vito (13 April 2014). "Alejandro Burillo Azcárraga, el hombre que se olvidó del valor del Atlante" [Alejandro Burillo Azcárraga, the man who forgot Atlante's value]. espndeportes.espn.com (in Spanish). ESPN.
3. Duben, Rodrigo (20 November 2016). "Punto final: cómo fueron los 18 años de México en la Copa Libertadores" [End point: how Mexico's 18 years in the Copa Libertadores went] (in Spanish). Infobae.
4. Minniti, Javier. "Recuento histórico de la Liguilla entre Venezuela y México" [Liguilla history between Venezuela and Mexico] (in Spanish). University of the Andes. Archived from the original on 10 December 2004. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
5. "Pre Libertadores, la primera aduana para los mexicanos" [Pre Libertadores, the first hurdle for the Mexicans]. mexico.as.com (in Spanish). Diario AS. 27 July 2015.