 The trophy awarded to champions | |
| Organising body |  AFA AUF |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1913 |
| Abolished | 1955 |
| Region | Buenos Aires, Argentina Montevideo, Uruguay |
| Number of teams | 2 |
| Related competitions | Copa Campeonato del Río de la Plata |
| Last champions | River Plate (1947) |
| Most successful club(s) | River Plate (5 titles) |
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.
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 toward the creation of the 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 Italian-born Renato Cesarini, the Uruguayans Roque Máspoli, Ángel Romano, Obdulio Varela, Hector Scarone, Juan Alberto Schiaffino, Anibal Paz, Severino Varela, and Paraguayan legend Arsenio Erico, among others.
- ^ La madre de la Copa Libertadores on Pasión Fútbol, 9 Aug 2013
- ^ "Peñarol chosen as the South American club of the century". Buenos Aires Herald. 17 September 2009. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
- ^ River Plate, ensancha sus vitrinas para seguir sumando copas Archived 2019-04-02 at the Wayback Machine on Conmebol, 16 Aug 2015