Copa Aldao

The Copa Ricardo Aldao (English: Ricardo Aldao Cup), popularly called Campeonato Rioplatense and Copa Río de La Plata, was an official AFA-AUF football club competition contested annually, albeit irregularly, between the league champions of Argentina and Uruguay. The trophy was donated by Argentine football executive Ricardo Aldao (1863–1956), who would later become president of the Argentine Football Association.

Copa Ricardo Aldao
The trophy given to champions
Organising body AFA
AUF
Founded1913
Abolished1955 (1955)
RegionSouth America
Number of teams2
Related competitions Primera División
Primera División
Last champions River Plate (1947)
Most successful club(s) River Plate
(5 titles)

The cup is one of several inter-South American club competitions that have been organised on the continent. The first competition was scheduled for the 1913 season (although it was never played) and the last in 1955 (actually played in 1959, no champions proclaimed). The Copa Ricardo Aldao is seen today as the first stepping-stone into the creation of Copa Libertadores.[1] In 2009, when the IFFHS proclaimed Peñarol of Montevideo as the best South American team of the 20th century, they took into consideration the Copa Aldao and other international club tournaments played in South America before the beginning of Copa Libertadores in 1960.[2]

In August 2015 a CONMEBOL's article described Aldao Cup as one of the first international professional football cups in South America.[3]

Many important footballers played in the competitions such as the Argentines Jose Manuel Moreno, Angel Labruna, Guillermo Stabile, Alfredo Di Stefano, Adolfo Pedernera, Amadeo Carrizo, Carlos Peucelle, Felix Loustau, Nestor Rossi, Antonio Sastre, Bernardo Gandulla, the Uruguayans Roque Maspoli, Ángel Romano, Obdulio Varela, Hector Scarone, Juan Alberto Schiaffino, Anibal Paz, Severino Varela and Paraguayan legend Arsenio Erico, among others.

History
Argentine football executive Ricardo Aldao donated the trophy, giving his name to the competition

Friendly matches were common between clubs from Argentina and Uruguay in the early 1900s due to the close proximity of the nations. Inevitably, a match to decide which national champions were the best formulated; the trophy of the competition was donated by Ricardo Aldao, then president of both, club Gimnasia y Esgrima (BA) and dissident association "Federación Argentina de Football". As such, the competition was named after his donation. The first edition, organized in 1913, was to be contested between Estudiantes from Argentina and River Plate from Uruguay. However, the match was suspended due to heavy rain and never rescheduled.[4] The first champion of the competition was not crowned until 1916, when Nacional of Montevideo beat Racing de Avellaneda 2–1.

Independiente players (Antonio Sastre at left and Arsenio Erico) with the Copa Aldao trophy in 1938

Originally, a single-legged format was adopted, with the match played in Argentina and Uruguay in alternative year.[4] But in 1940, Boca Juniors left the field when the match, played at Montevideo, was at a draw of 2–2. The title was awarded to Nacional at first, yet later on both associations did not defined clearly the champions of this year.[4] Asociación Uruguaya de Fútbol (AUF) and Argentine Football Association (AFA) studied the situation on 22 January 1941, and announced that a two-legged format would be adopted in the following seasons.[4] The finals should be disputed before the beginning of the next season. Only players that had been part of the domestic champion squads could be included.[5] Since then, the competition was played two-legged exception made of the 1942 edition, when the second leg was not played and the trophy was not awarded.

Schedule problems forced teams of both countries to quit the Aldao Cup during the 1950s,[3] thus the competition was discontinued until 1959. One last attempt was made to rekindle the championship in 1955 in a match between Nacional and River Plate. However, the final was not disputed until four years later and the second leg was never played; therefore, the title was not officially proclaimed.[4] As a result, to the schedule congestion of the growing national leagues (as well as the creation of the new continental club tournament, the Copa Libertadores de América) the Copa Aldao became redundant and was never played again.

Finals
Year Champions Runners-up Score City Venue
1913
(Abandoned) [lower-alpha 1] [4]
1916 Nacional Racing2-1Montevideon/e
1917 Racing Nacional2-2 [lower-alpha 2]Montevideon/e
1918 Racing Peñarol2-1Buenos Airesn/e
1919 Nacional Boca Juniors3-0Montevideon/e
1920 Nacional Boca Juniors2-1Buenos Airesn/e
1923
(Not disputed) [lower-alpha 3]
1927 San Lorenzo Rampla Juniors1-0Montevideon/e
1928 Peñarol Huracán3-0Buenos AiresRiver Plate
1936 River Plate Peñarol5-1MontevideoCentenario
1937 River Plate Peñarol5-2Buenos AiresSan Lorenzo
1938 Independiente Peñarol3-1MontevideoCentenario
1939 Independiente Nacional5-0Buenos AiresSan Lorenzo
1940
(No champion crowned) [lower-alpha 4]
1941 River Plate Nacional6-1
1-1		Buenos Aires
Montevideo		San Lorenzo
Centenario
1942
(No champion crowned) [lower-alpha 5]
1945 River Plate Peñarol2-1
3-2		Montevideo
Buenos Aires		Centenario
San Lorenzo
1946
(Not disputed) [lower-alpha 6]
1947 River Plate Nacional4-3
3-1		Montevideo
Buenos Aires		Centenario
San Lorenzo
1955
(No champion crowned) [lower-alpha 7]
1957 Nacional River Plate1-2
Montevideo
Centenario

Titles by club
Team Titles Years won
River Plate61936, 1937, 1941, 1945, 1947, 1957
Nacional31916, 1919, 1920
Independiente21938, 1939
Racing21917, 1918
Peñarol11928
San Lorenzo11927

Titles by country
Country Titles Winner teams
Argentina10River Plate (5), Racing (2), Independiente (2), San Lorenzo (1)
Uruguay4Nacional (3), Peñarol (1)

All-time scorers

Most finals by player
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See also
  • 1948 Copa de Campeones

Notes
  1. Argentine historian Miguel Bionda (Historia del Fútbol Platense) asserts that the 1913 edition was indeed played and Estudiantes de La Plata beat Uruguayan River Plate by 4-1. Likewise, the magazines Estudiantes del Mundo: 100 años de gloria, published by Argentine newspaper El Día in 2005, and the book Historia de Estudiantes de La Plata, edited by Diario Hoy in 1997 agreed with that. On the other hand, other sources, like the RSSSF and the Centro para la Investigación de la Historia del Fútbol state that the game was suspended due to rain.
  2. Title awarded to Racing as visiting team.[4]
  3. Replaced by two friendly matches between the champions of dissidents associations.[4]
  4. Nacional and Boca Juniors played a match at Montevideo on 28 December 1940 which ended in a 2-2 draw. Boca Juniors left the field before the extra time, then the cup was initially awarded to Nacional, but eventually neither association designated a champion.[4][6]
  5. Nacional beat River Plate 4-0 in the first leg played at Montevideo, but the cup was never officially awarded as the second leg was never disputed.[4]
  6. Replaced by two friendly matches between both finalists (Nacional and San Lorenzo).[4]
  7. River Plate beat Nacional 2-1 in the first leg played at Montevideo, but the cup was never officially awarded as the second leg was never disputed.[4]

References
  1. La madre de la Copa Libertadores de América on Pasión Fútbol, 9 Aug 2013
  2. "Peñarol chosen as the South American club of the century". Buenos Aires Herald. 17 September 2009. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  3. River Plate, ensancha sus vitrinas para seguir sumando copas on Conmebol, 16 Aug 2015
  4. Campeonato Rioplatense - Copa Dr. Ricardo C. Aldao on RSSSF
  5. "Memoria y Balance 1941 - pp. 45-46". AFA. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  6. "La copa internacional que Boca perdió por abandonar". Infobae, 19 August 2019 (in Spanish)
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