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1981 Copa Libertadores de América

Tournament details
Dates	March 18 – November 23
Teams	21 (from 10 associations)
Final positions
Champions	Flamengo (1st title)
Runners-up	Cobreloa
Tournament statistics
Matches played	77
Goals scored	221 (2.87 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Zico (11 goals)
← 1980 1982 →

The 1981 Copa Libertadores was won by Flamengo of Brazil, who beat Cobreloa of Chile in the finals, without losing a match in their campaign on the way to win their first title.

Qualified teams

Country	Team	Qualify method
CONMEBOL (1 berth)	Nacional	1980 Copa Libertadores champion
Argentina 2 berths	Rosario Central	1981 Campeonato Nacional champions
	River Plate	1981 Campeonato Metropolitano champions
Bolivia 2 berths	Jorge Wilstermann	1980 Primera División champion
	The Strongest	1980 Primera División runner-up
Brazil 2 berths	Flamengo	1980 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A champion
	Atlético Mineiro	1980 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A 2nd place
Chile 2 berths	Cobreloa	1980 Primera División champion
	Universidad de Chile	1980 Liguilla Pre-Copa Libertadores winner
Colombia 2 berths	Junior	1980 Campeonato Profesional champion
	Deportivo Cali	1980 Campeonato Profesional runner-up
Ecuador 2 berths	Barcelona	1980 Campeonato Ecuatoriano de Fútbol Serie A champion
	Técnico Universitario	1980 Campeonato Ecuatoriano de Fútbol Serie A runner-up
Paraguay 2 berths	Olimpia	1980 Primera División champion
	Cerro Porteño	1980 Primera División runner-up
Peru 2 berths	Sporting Cristal	1980 Torneo Descentralizado champion
	Atlético Torino	1980 Torneo Descentralizado runner-up
Uruguay 2 berths	Peñarol	1980 Liguilla Pre-Libertadores winner
	Bella Vista	1980 Liguilla Pre-Libertadores runner-up
Venezuela 2 berths	Estudiantes de Mérida	1980 Primera División champion
	Portuguesa	1980 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 Uruguay competed as Nacional was champion of the 1980 Copa Libertadores. They entered the tournament in the Semifinals.

Group stage

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		CALI	RIV	CEN	JUN
1	Deportivo Cali	6	4	0	2	10	6	+4	8	Qualified to the Semi-Finals		—	2–1	1–0	4–1
2	River Plate	6	3	1	2	9	6	+3	7			1–2	—	3–2	3–0
3	Rosario Central	6	3	0	3	11	7	+4	6			2–1	0–1	—	5–0
4	Junior	6	1	1	4	3	14	−11	3			1–0	0–0	1–2	—

Group 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		PEÑ	BVI	EST	POR
1	Peñarol	6	5	1	0	13	3	+10	11	Qualified to the Semi-Finals		—	3–1	4–2	3–0
2	Bella Vista	6	4	1	1	16	5	+11	9			0–0	—	3–1	4–0
3	Estudiantes de Mérida	6	0	2	4	5	14	−9	2			0–2	1–4	—	1–1
4	Portuguesa	6	0	2	4	1	13	−12	2			0–1	0–4	0–0	—

Group 3

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		FLA	CAM	CER	OLI
1	Flamengo (A, O)	6	2	4	0	14	9	+5	8	Qualified to the Semi-Finals		—	2–2	5–2	1–1
2	Atlético Mineiro (A)	6	2	4	0	8	6	+2	8			2–2	—	2–2	1–0
3	Cerro Porteño	6	1	2	3	9	12	−3	4			2–4	0–1	—	0–0
4	Olimpia	6	0	4	2	1	5	−4	4			0–0	0–0	0–3	—

3 July 1981	Atletico Mineiro	2–2	Flamengo	Mineirão, Belo Horizonte
	Éder 28', 63'		Nunes 65' Marinho 85'	Attendance: 63,153 Referee: José Roberto Wright (Brazil)

7 July 1981

Cerro Porteño

0–0

Olimpia

Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asunción

14 July 1981	Flamengo	5–2	Cerro Porteño	Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro
	Zico 20', 27' Baroninho 47' Nunes 62', 62'		Jimenes 62' Julio Dos Santos 90'	Attendance: 25,967 Referee: Carlos Montalvan (Brazil)

17 July 1981

Olimpia

0–0

Atletico Mineiro

Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asunción

21 July 1981

Cerro Porteño

0–1

Atletico Mineiro

Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asunción

24 July 1981	Flamengo	1–1	Olimpia	Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro
	Adilio 22'		Solalinde 60'	Attendance: 38,718 Referee: Abel Gnecco

28 July 1981

Atletico Mineiro

1–0

Olimpia

Mineirão, Belo Horizonte

31 July 1981

Atletico Mineiro

2–2

Cerro Porteño

Mineirão, Belo Horizonte

7 August 1981	Flamengo	2–2	Atletico Mineiro	Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro
	Nunes 67' Tita 69'		Palhinha 62' Reinaldo 69'	Attendance: 62,763 Referee: Carlos Rosa Martins

8 August 1981

Olimpia

0–3

Cerro Porteño

Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asunción

11 August 1981	Cerro Porteño	2–4	Flamengo	Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asunción
	Acost 69' Jimenes 72'		Baroninho 7' Zico 58', 65', 70'	Attendance: 13,000 Referee: Roque Cerullo

14 August 1981	Olimpia	0–0	Flamengo	Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asunción
				Attendance: 25,000 Referee: José Martizez Bazan

First-place playoff match 21 August 1981	Flamengo	0-0	Atlético Mineiro	Estádio Serra Dourada, Goiânia
				Attendance: 72,000 Referee: José Roberto Wright
Note: The match was suspended at 37 minutes of the first half, after 5 players of Atlético Mineiro received red cards. By association football rules a team is disqualified if it has fewer than 7 players. Therefore Flamengo won by WO.

Group 4

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		STR	WIL	BAR	TEC
1	The Strongest	6	4	0	2	13	9	+4	8			—	2–0	1–0	4–2
2	Jorge Wilstermann	6	4	0	2	9	9	0	8	Qualified to the Semi-Finals		3–2	—	1–0	3–1
3	Barcelona	6	3	0	3	8	8	0	6			2–1	3–0	—	2–1
4	Técnico Universitário	6	1	0	5	11	15	−4	2			2–3	1–2	4–1	—

Tiebreaker

Team 1	Score	Team 2
The Strongest	1–4	Jorge Wilstermann

Group 5

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		COB	SPC	UCH	TOR
1	Cobreloa	6	3	3	0	14	3	+11	9	Qualified to the Semi-Finals		—	6–1	1–0	6–1
2	Sporting Cristal	6	3	2	1	9	11	−2	8			0–0	—	3–2	2–1
3	Universidad de Chile	6	2	2	2	8	6	+2	6			0–0	1–1	—	3–0
4	Atlético Torino	6	0	1	5	5	16	−11	1			1–1	1–2	1–2	—

Semi-finals

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		FLA	CAL	JOR
1	Flamengo	4	4	0	0	10	2	+8	8	Qualified to the Final		—	3–0	4–1
2	Deportivo Cali	4	1	1	2	2	5	−3	3			0–1	—	1–0
3	Jorge Wilstermann	4	0	1	3	3	8	−5	1			1–2	1–1	—

2 October 1981	Deportivo Cali	0–1	Flamengo	Estadio Olímpico Pascual Guerrero, Cali
			Nunes 1'	Attendance: 50,000 Referee: Mário Lira

13 October 1981	Jorge Wilstermann	1–2	Flamengo	Estadio Félix Capriles, Cochabamba
	Melgar 53'		Baroninho 13' Adilio 64'	Referee: Enrique Labo

16 October 1981

Deportivo Cali

1–0

Jorge Wilstermann

Estadio Olímpico Pascual Guerrero, Cali

23 October 1981	Flamengo	3–0	Deportivo Cali	Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro
	Zico 9', 82' Chiquinho Carioca 57'			Attendance: 28,847 Referee: Juan Cardelino

27 October 1981

Jorge Wilstermann

1–1

Deportivo Cali

Estadio Félix Capriles, Cochabamba

30 October 1981	Flamengo	4–1	Jorge Wilstermann	Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro
	Nunes 9' Adilio 39' Anselmo 87' Chiquinho Carioca 90'		Tarborga 2'	Attendance: 7,520 Referee: Jorge Orellana

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		COB	NAC	PEÑ
1	Cobreloa	4	3	1	0	9	5	+4	7	Qualified to the Final		—	2–2	4–2
2	Nacional	4	0	3	1	5	6	−1	3			1–2	—	1–1
3	Peñarol	4	0	2	2	4	7	−3	2			0–1	1–1	—

30 September 1981	Peñarol	1–1	Nacional	Estadio Centenario, Montevideo
	Vargas 77'		de la Peña 44'

8 October 1981	Nacional	1–2	Cobreloa	Estadio Centenario, Montevideo
	Morales 49'		Puebla 62' Olivera 83'

13 October 1981	Peñarol	0–1	Cobreloa	Estadio Centenario, Montevideo
			Olivera 89'

21 October 1981	Nacional	1–1	Peñarol	Estadio Centenario, Montevideo
	Espárrago 73'		Marcenaro 89'

28 October 1981	Cobreloa	4–2	Peñarol	Estadio Municipal, Calama
	Raúl Gómez 1' Víctor Merello 30' 66' (P.K.) Oscar Muñoz 68'		Paz 70' (P.K.) Vargas 88'

4 November 1981	Cobreloa	2–2	Nacional	Estadio Municipal, Calama
	Oscar Muñoz 67' Luzardo 73' (o.g.)		Cabrera 39' Luzardo 90' (P.K.)

Finals

13 November 1981	Flamengo	2–1	Cobreloa	Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro
	Zico 12', 30' (pen.)		Merello 65'	Attendance: 93,985 Referee: Esposito (Argentina)

20 November 1981	Cobreloa	1–0	Flamengo	Estadio Nacional, Santiago
	Merello 84'			Attendance: 61,721 Referee: Ramón Barreto (Uruguay)

23 November 1981	Flamengo	2–0 (4–2 agg.)	Cobreloa	Estadio Centenario, Montevideo
	Zico 18', 84'			Attendance: 30,200 Referee: Roque Cerullo (Uruguay)

References

1. Cuando Flamengo tocó el cielo con las manos on Olé, 14 Jul 2021
2. RSSSF: Copa Libertadores 1981 at the RSSSF
3. Flamengo campeón de la Libertadores 1981 on Clarín, 20 Nov 2019

External links

• Ficha do Jogo - Matches Report

• 1981 in South American football
• Copa Libertadores seasons