The 2026 CONMEBOL Libertadores once again raises a question that has become increasingly familiar: can any club end Brazil’s dominance of the competition? To find the last non-Brazilian champion, it is necessary to go back to 2018. River Plate lifted the trophy after defeating Boca Juniors in a historic final that began in Buenos Aires and ended in Madrid.
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When was the last time a non-Brazilian team won the Copa Libertadores?
Brazil has dominated the CONMEBOL Libertadores since 2019, producing seven consecutive champions. To find the last winner from another country, it is necessary to go back to 2018 and one of the most memorable finals in tournament history: River Plate against Boca Juniors.
River Plate, the last non-Brazilian champion
River Plate’s triumph was completed on December 9, 2018. The first leg of the final had finished 2-2 at La Bombonera, before the return match was played at Estadio Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid. Marcelo Gallardo’s team won 3-1 after extra time, with goals from Lucas Pratto, Juan Fernando Quintero and Gonzalo Martínez. Darío Benedetto had given Boca Juniors the lead.
The result produced a 5-3 aggregate victory and delivered River Plate its fourth Libertadores title. It was also the final edition of the competition to use a two-legged final. Beginning in 2019, the champion has been decided in a single match.
Seven consecutive Brazilian champions
No club from outside Brazil has lifted the trophy since River Plate’s victory. Flamengo started the current streak in 2019 by defeating River Plate in Lima. Palmeiras then won the 2020 and 2021 editions, before Flamengo reclaimed the title in 2022.
The sequence continued with Fluminense in 2023 and Botafogo in 2024. In 2025, Flamengo defeated Palmeiras in Lima to win the competition for the fourth time in club history. Brazilian clubs have therefore won seven consecutive Libertadores titles from 2019 through 2025. Including Grêmio’s triumph in 2017, Brazil has produced the champion in eight of the last nine completed editions, with River Plate in 2018 the only exception.
Can the streak end in 2026?
The 2026 tournament has reached the quarterfinals with an even split between Brazil and the rest of South America. Four Brazilian clubs remain: Flamengo, Palmeiras, Fluminense and Corinthians. The other four are Argentina’s Estudiantes de La Plata and Platense, plus Ecuador’s Liga de Quito and Independiente del Valle.
Each quarterfinal also matches a Brazilian club against a team from another country: Fluminense-Platense, Estudiantes de La Plata-Corinthians, Palmeiras-Liga de Quito and Flamengo-Independiente del Valle.
That means Brazil’s remarkable run will again be tested in 2026. For now, however, the answer remains unchanged: the last non-Brazilian club to win the Copa Libertadores was River Plate, on December 9, 2018, when Gallardo’s side defeated Boca Juniors in Madrid and claimed its fourth continental crown.
