The 2023 Copa Uruguay (officially known as Copa AUF Uruguay 2023), was the second edition of the Copa Uruguay, the country's national football cup tournament. The tournament began on 21 August 2023 and had 80 teams participating.[1] It was originally scheduled to end on 10 December 2023, but the tournament was paused at the round of 16 and resumed on 5 February 2024 due to a players strike in Uruguayan football,[2] with the final match eventually moved to 22 May 2024.[3]
The defending champions Defensor Sporting won their second title in the competition, defeating Montevideo City Torque in the final on penalty kicks following a 2–2 draw after 90 minutes.[4]
Format
The competition was divided into eight stages, with ties in all stages played over a single match. The preliminary round was contested by 24 clubs from the Organización del Fútbol del Interior (OFI), four Divisional D (fourth tier) clubs, and 20 teams from the Primera División Amateur, with 12 OFI clubs and 12 AUF ones advancing to the first round where the OFI clubs were drawn against the AUF ones, and matches were hosted by six OFI clubs and six AUF clubs. The 12 winners from the first round were joined by 12 teams from the Segunda División in the second round, except for Tacuarembó and Oriental, champion and runner-up of the previous Primera División Amateur season. The 12 first round winners hosted their match in this round, and the 12 winners moved into the third round.[1]
32 teams played in the third round: 12 winners from the previous phase, 16 professional teams from the Primera División, the defending champion and runner-up of the Primera División Amateur and the defending champion and runner-up of the Copa Nacional de Clubes (Central and Universitario). The 16 Primera División clubs played their match in this round away. From this point onwards, the winners played against each other in single-legged knockout phases, with the semi-finals and the final to be played on neutral ground. The final was planned to be played at a stadium outside of Montevideo where no professional activity was held, unless it was played by Nacional and Peñarol, in which case it would be played at Estadio Centenario.[5]
Starting from this edition, the winners of the competition were expected to qualify for the Supercopa Uruguaya.[6] They were also awarded a US$ 120,000 prize to be spent on club infrastructure. The amateur club that advanced the furthest in the competition was awarded US$50,000 for the same purpose. OFI club Sportivo Barracas, which reached the quarter-finals of the competition, was eventually awarded that prize.[7] These monetary prizes would not accumulate in the event an amateur club won the competition.[1]
Schedule
The schedule of the competition was as follows:[8]
The draw of the competition was held on 16 August 2023, at the Artigas Theater in Trinidad, Flores Department. The preliminary round was divided into two zones: in the AUF zone, teams playing in the third and fourth tier were drawn against each other into 12 ties, whilst in the OFI zone, the 24 teams entering were also divided into four zones according to geographical criteria: Litoral, Central/South, Central/East, and East, and then drawn against a team in their geographical zone.[9]
