New CONMEBOL President Wants To Scale Back Copa Libertadores

New CONMEBOL President Eugenio Figueredo wants a Copa Libertadores "with less teams, more competition, and 'that pays more,'" according to OLE. Figueredo plans changes for the Copa Libertadores to make "a more competitive and higher-paying product." To make this happen, Figueredo said that only the best, or the two best teams, from each country should participate, instead of three, four, five or even six, as is currently the case. For this, he proposes that "teams from the same country eliminate each other." Another reason Figueredo wants fewer teams is to guarantee higher-quality officiating. Figueredo: "There are 150 teams and 150 groups of officials. But we have very little qualified human material. So we see a bad level of officiating when many are not capable. And there is no time to look for excellence" (OLE, 5/7).