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The 2023 Copa Uruguay (officially known as Copa AUF Uruguay 2023), was the second edition of the Copa Uruguay, the country's national football cup tournament. The tournament began on 21 August 2023 and had 80 teams participating. It was originally scheduled to end on 10 December 2023, but the tournament was paused at the round of 16 and resumed on 5 February 2024 due to a players strike in Uruguayan football, with the final match eventually moved to 22 May 2024.

The defending champions Defensor Sporting won their second title in the competition, defeating Montevideo City Torque in the final on penalty kicks following a 2–2 draw after 90 minutes.

Format

The competition was divided into eight stages, with ties in all stages played over a single match. The preliminary round was contested by 24 clubs from the Organización del Fútbol del Interior (OFI), four Divisional D (fourth tier) clubs, and 20 teams from the Primera División Amateur, with 12 OFI clubs and 12 AUF ones advancing to the first round where the OFI clubs were drawn against the AUF ones, and matches were hosted by six OFI clubs and six AUF clubs. The 12 winners from the first round were joined by 12 teams from the Segunda División in the second round, except for Tacuarembó and Oriental, champion and runner-up of the previous Primera División Amateur season. The 12 first round winners hosted their match in this round, and the 12 winners moved into the third round.

32 teams played in the third round: 12 winners from the previous phase, 16 professional teams from the Primera División, the defending champion and runner-up of the Primera División Amateur and the defending champion and runner-up of the Copa Nacional de Clubes (Central and Universitario). The 16 Primera División clubs played their match in this round away. From this point onwards, the winners played against each other in single-legged knockout phases, with the semi-finals and the final to be played on neutral ground. The final was planned to be played at a stadium outside of Montevideo where no professional activity was held, unless it was played by Nacional and Peñarol, in which case it would be played at Estadio Centenario.

Starting from this edition, the winners of the competition were expected to qualify for the Supercopa Uruguaya. They were also awarded a US$ 120,000 prize to be spent on club infrastructure. The amateur club that advanced the furthest in the competition was awarded US$50,000 for the same purpose. OFI club Sportivo Barracas, which reached the quarter-finals of the competition, was eventually awarded that prize. These monetary prizes would not accumulate in the event an amateur club won the competition.

Schedule

The schedule of the competition was as follows:

Qualified teams

The following teams entered the competition. Primera División Amateur teams Artigas, Deportivo Colonia, Huracán, and Mar de Fondo declined to participate.

Draw

The draw of the competition was held on 16 August 2023, at the Artigas Theater in Trinidad, Flores Department. The preliminary round was divided into two zones: in the AUF zone, teams playing in the third and fourth tier were drawn against each other into 12 ties, whilst in the OFI zone, the 24 teams entering were also divided into four zones according to geographical criteria: Litoral, Central/South, Central/East, and East, and then drawn against a team in their geographical zone.

Preliminary stage

AUF Zone

OFI Zone

First round

Second round

Bracket

Third round

Round of 16

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Christian Alba	Quilmes	5
2	Natanael Tabárez	Ferro Carril	3
	Sebastián López	Lito
4	13 players		2

Source: AUF

See also

• 2023 Uruguayan Primera División season
• 2023 Uruguayan Segunda División season

References

1. ^ "Se juega la segunda edición de la Copa AUF Uruguay" [The Copa AUF Uruguay's second edition is played] (in Spanish). AUF. 7 August 2023. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
2. "La Copa AUF Uruguay 2023 se disputará hasta octavos de final este año y culminará en 2024" [The 2023 Copa AUF Uruguay will be played until the round of 16 this year and will end in 2024] (in Spanish). FútbolUy. 1 October 2023. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
3. "Copa AUF Uruguay: final entre Defensor Sporting y City Torque tiene detalles confirmados" [Copa AUF Uruguay: final between Defensor Sporting and City Torque has confirmed details] (in Spanish). FútbolUy. 23 April 2024. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
4. "Defensor Sporting es bicampeón de la Copa AUF Uruguay, por penales y con Kevin Dawson como figura" [Defensor Sporting is two-time Copa AUF Uruguay champion, on penalties and with Kevin Dawson as MVP] (in Spanish). El País. 22 May 2024. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
5. "Copa AUF Uruguay: fecha de inicio, variaciones respecto al estreno y el cambio que puede valer dos títulos" [Copa AUF Uruguay: start date, variations from the premiere edition and the change that can be worth two titles] (in Spanish). El País. 20 July 2023. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
6. "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 8 August 2023.
7. "Perdieron 8-1 pero con su estilo y se llevaron US$ 50.000: el balance de Sportivo Barracas tras caer ante City Torque por Copa AUF Uruguay" [They lost 8–1 but with their style and took home US$50,000: Sportivo Barracas's balance after losing to City Torque for the Copa AUF Uruguay] (in Spanish). El Observador. 12 March 2024. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
8. "Copa Uruguay: se confirmaron oficialmente todos los detalles de la segunda edición" [Copa Uruguay: the details of the second edition were officially confirmed] (in Spanish). FútbolUy. 7 August 2023. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
9. ^ "Copa AUF Uruguay: Conocé todos los cruces y cuándo podrían enfrentarse Nacional y Peñarol" [Copa AUF Uruguay: Get to know all the matchups and when Nacional and Peñarol could face each other] (in Spanish). FútbolUy. 16 August 2023. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
10. "La D define sus representantes en la Copa Uruguay" [The D determines its representatives at the Copa Uruguay] (in Spanish). La Diaria. 11 August 2023. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
11. "Copa Uruguay 2023: Rocha no se presentará a su partido y se bajó de la competición" [2023 Copa Uruguay: Rocha will not show up to their match and dropped out of the competition] (in Spanish). FútbolUy. 19 September 2023. Retrieved 21 September 2023.
12. "Copa AUF Uruguay: Se colocaron unas 2500 entradas en la final entre violetas y ciudadanos" [Copa AUF Uruguay: 2,500 tickets were sold in the final between violets and citizens] (in Spanish). FútbolUy. 22 May 2024. Retrieved 22 May 2024.

• 2023 domestic association football cups
• 2023 in Uruguayan football