1979 Copa Libertadores

1979 Copa Libertadores de América

Tournament details
Dates	February 24 – July 27
Teams	21 (from 10 associations)
Final positions
Champions	Olimpia (1st title)
Runners-up	Boca Juniors
Tournament statistics
Matches played	75
Goals scored	212 (2.83 per match)

The 1979 Copa Libertadores represented the 20th edition of the tournament, which saw Olimpia of Paraguay win the title for the first time, the first time a team from a country outside Uruguay, Argentina or Brazil won the tournament. This allowed the Paraguayan side to play the Intercontinental Cup against Malmö FF of Sweden, in which the South American side won.

Qualified teams

Country	Team	Qualify method
CONMEBOL (1 berth)	Boca Juniors	1978 Copa Libertadores champion
Argentina 2 berths	Independiente	1978 Campeonato Nacional champions
	Quilmes	1978 Campeonato Metropolitano champions
Bolivia 2 berths	Bolívar	1978 Primera División champion
	Jorge Wilstermann	1978 Primera División runner-up
Brazil 2 berths	Guarani	1978 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A champion
	Palmeiras	1978 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A 2nd place
Chile 2 berths	Palestino	1978 Primera División champion
	O'Higgins	1978 Liguilla Pre-Copa Libertadores winner
Colombia 2 berths	Millonarios	1978 Campeonato Profesional champion
	Deportivo Cali	1978 Campeonato Profesional runner-up
Ecuador 2 berths	El Nacional	1978 Campeonato Ecuatoriano de Fútbol Serie A champion
	Técnico Universitario	1978 Campeonato Ecuatoriano de Fútbol Serie A runner-up
Paraguay 2 berths	Olimpia	1978 Primera División runner-up
	Sol de América	1978 Primera División third place
Peru 2 berths	Alianza Lima	1978 Torneo Descentralizado champion
	Universitario	1978 Torneo Descentralizado runner-up
Uruguay 2 berths	Peñarol	1978 Liguilla Pre-Libertadores winner
	Nacional	1978 Liguilla Pre-Libertadores runner-up
Venezuela 2 berths	Portuguesa	1978 Primera División champion
	Deportivo Galicia	1978 Primera División runner-up

Draw

The champions and runners-up of each football association were drawn into the same group along with another football association's participating teams. Three clubs from Argentina competed as Boca Juniors was champion of the 1978 Copa Libertadores. They entered the tournament in the Semifinals.

Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4	Group 5
Argentina Colombia	Bolivia Paraguay	Brazil Peru	Chile Venezuela	Ecuador Uruguay

Group stage

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		IND	CAL	MIL	QUI
1	Independiente	6	4	1	1	12	6	+6	9	Qualified to the Semifinals		—	1–0	4–1	2–0
2	Deportivo Cali	6	3	1	2	8	7	+1	7			1–0	—	2–0	3–2
3	Millonarios	6	2	2	2	8	11	−3	6			3–3	1–1	—	1–0
4	Quilmes	6	1	0	5	7	11	−4	2			1–2	3–1	1–2	—

Source:

Group 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		OLI	BOL	SOL	WIL
1	Olimpia	6	5	0	1	13	5	+8	10	Qualified to the Semifinals		—	3–0	2–1	4–2
2	Bolívar	6	4	1	1	18	7	+11	9			2–1	—	4–1	4–0
3	Sol de América	6	2	1	3	9	12	−3	5			0–1	2–2	—	2–1
4	Jorge Wilstermann	6	0	0	6	5	21	−16	0			0–2	0–6	2–3	—

Source:

Group 3

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		GUA	UNI	PAL	ALI
1	Guarani	6	5	0	1	16	5	+11	10	Qualified to the Semifinals		—	6–1	1–0	2–0
2	Universitario	6	4	0	2	15	15	0	8			3–0	—	2–5	1–0
3	Palmeiras	6	3	0	3	15	11	+4	6			1–4	1–2	—	4–0
4	Alianza Lima	6	0	0	6	5	20	−15	0			0–3	3–6	2–4	—

Source:

Group 4

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		PAL	OHI	POR	GAL
1	Palestino	6	4	2	0	16	2	+14	10	Qualified to the Semifinals		—	1–0	6–0	5–0
2	O'Higgins	6	2	3	1	10	4	+6	7			1–1	—	1–1	6–0
3	Portuguesa	6	0	4	2	4	12	−8	4			0–2	1–1	—	1–1
4	Deportivo Galicia	6	0	3	3	3	15	−12	3			1–1	0–1	1–1	—

Source:

Group 5

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		PEÑ	NAC	ENA	TEC
1	Peñarol	6	4	2	0	10	2	+8	10	Qualified to the Semifinals		—	0–0	2–1	4–0
2	Nacional	6	2	3	1	7	3	+4	7			1–1	—	3–0	2–0
3	El Nacional	6	2	1	3	6	10	−4	5			0–2	1–0	—	2–1
4	Técnico Universitario	6	0	2	4	4	12	−8	2			0–1	1–1	2–2	—

Source:

Semifinals

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		BOC	IND	PEÑ
1	Boca Juniors	4	2	1	1	3	1	+2	5	Qualified to the Final		—	2–0	1–0
2	Independiente	4	2	1	1	2	2	0	5			1–0	—	1–0
3	Peñarol	4	0	2	2	0	2	−2	2			0–0	0–0	—

Source:

Tiebreaker

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Boca Juniors	1–0	Independiente

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		OLI	GUA	PAL
1	Olimpia	4	3	1	0	8	2	+6	7	Qualified to the Final		—	2–1	3–0
2	Guarani	4	0	3	1	4	5	−1	3			1–1	—	2–2
3	Palestino	4	0	2	2	2	7	−5	2			0–2	0–0	—

Source:

Finals

Main article: 1979 Copa Libertadores Finals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Olimpia	2–0	Boca Juniors	2–0	0–0

Champion

Copa Libertadores 1979 Champions
Olimpia First Title

Top-scorers

6 goles
Juan José Oré (Universitario)
Miltäo (Guaraní)

External links

• Sitio oficial de la CONMEBOL
• Libertadores 1979 at RSSSF.com