Atlético discover group and route in Copa Sul-Americana 2026 | OneFootball

Atlético learned, on the night of this Thursday (19), its opponents in the group stage of the Copa Sudamericana. The draw was held at CONMEBOL headquarters in Luque, Paraguay, and determined the path for the 32 teams in the continental competition.

As a seeded team, Galo ended up in Group B, alongside Cienciano from Peru, Puerto Cabello from Venezuela, and Juventud de Las Piedras from Uruguay. The group stage consists of eight groups with four teams each, where only the leader advances directly to the round of 16, while the runners-up compete in a playoff.

In addition to its opponents, Atlético also already knows the sequence of matches it will face in the competition. The debut will be away, against Puerto Cabello in Venezuela, in a match scheduled to take place between April 7 and 9. Next, the team from Minas Gerais will play its first home game against Juventud, between April 14 and 16.

In the third round, the challenge will be even greater: Galo travels to Cusco, Peru, to face Cienciano, in a match scheduled between April 28 and 30, facing the altitude as an extra difficulty factor.

The second half of the group stage will be played throughout the month of May. Atlético opens the second half by facing Juventud again, this time in Uruguay. Then, it hosts Cienciano in Belo Horizonte and ends its participation in the group stage against Puerto Cabello, also at home.

The black-and-white club comes into the competition after being runners-up in the 2025 edition, when it was defeated by Lanús in the grand final.

The final of the 2026 Sudamericana already has a set stage: the Estadio Metropolitano Roberto Meléndez, in Barranquilla, Colombia, will host the final scheduled for November 21.

In the Copa Sudamericana, the club that wins the title will receive a prize of 10 million dollars (approximately R$ 52.21 million). Adding up the amounts distributed throughout all stages of the competition, the total can exceed 13.5 million dollars (about R$ 70.50 million) at the end of a victorious campaign.

In addition, the champion secures a spot in the next edition of the Copa Libertadores da América.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.