Pots confirmed: Boca’s possible opponents in the 2026 Libertadores | OneFootball

Boca quickly changes its focus after local action. After drawing 1-1 against San Lorenzo in the recent Torneo Apertura match, the team from La Ribera sets its sights on the international stage. The great obsession of the Xeneize gets underway and the enormous expectation grows.

On March 19th at 8 PM, in the main headquarters in Luque, Paraguay, the much-anticipated group stage draw will take place. Boca will be in pot 1 as a seeded team, a privileged position that will allow it to avoid several giants of the South American continent.

Alongside the blue and gold team in this first pot are Flamengo, Palmeiras, Peñarol, Nacional, Liga de Quito, Fluminense, and Independiente del Valle. Naturally, sharing this same classification tier, none of these heavyweight rivals will face the Xeneize at the start of the tournament.

The opponents will be drawn from the remaining pots. Pot 2 consists of Libertad, Estudiantes, Cerro Porteño, Lanús, Corinthians, Bolívar, Cruzeiro, and Universitario. It is important to note the Conmebol rule: teams from the same country do not share a group, ruling out Lanús and Estudiantes for Boca.

The 32 teams of the Copa Libertadores group stage

Continuing with the distribution, pot 3 offers different continental scenarios. Junior, Católica, Rosario Central, Independiente Santa Fe, Always Ready, Coquimbo, La Guaira, and Cusco. As in the previous case, the Rosario team cannot fall into the Boca team's zone.

Finally, pot 4 completes the scheme of possible competitors. This group includes Universidad Central, Platense, Independiente Rivadavia, Mirassol, Barcelona, Sporting Cristal, Deportes Tolima, and DIM. The Calamar and the Lepra from Mendoza will also be out of the Xeneize radar in this initial phase.

Pot 1

Pot 2

Pot 3

Pot 4

The top cup action will not have to wait long after the draw. The demanding group stage will kick off on Tuesday, April 7th, the date set for the first matchday. After this debut, the competition will continue with the second matchday planned between April 14th and 16th.

The tight schedule will continue: the third matchday will be from April 28th to 30th and the fourth from May 5th to 7th. The fifth will be played from the 19th to the 21st, closing the sixth matchday between May 26th and 28th. Subsequently, the draw for the round of 16 towards the final will be in the week of June 6th.

The toughest scenario for Boca

Based on the draw rules, it is already possible to speculate on the possible members of each group. In this scenario, historically strong rivals, high budgets, and the worst physical enemy are combined: extreme altitude or exhausting travel.

Possible "Group of Death": Boca, Cruzeiro, Always Ready, and Barcelona.

The most "accessible" group

If luck is on the Xeneize side, the team could access an accessible group stage considering it can avoid clashing with Brazilians, although it would have to deal with the travel.

Possible "Ideal Group": Boca, Universitario, Deportivo La Guaira, and Universidad Central.

Keep reading:

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