Torneio Mercosul

Torneio Mercosul

Organising body	Centertur and Estratégia B. Cecrisa
Founded	1995
Abolished	1996
Region	Brazil
Number of teams	10 (1995), 3 (1996)
Most successful club(s)	Figueirense Internacional 1 title each

Torneio Mercosul (English: Mercosur Tournament, Spanish: Torneo Mercosur) was an international football friendly competition played in 1995 and 1996. The 1995 edition was played in Santa Catarina state, Brazil. The competition was considered at the time, by Santa Catarina press, as an embryo of Copa Mercosur. It was intended to have a second edition of Torneio Mercosul in 1996, but it never happened. The budget of the competition was US$ 400,000.00. CONMEBOL did not recognize this competition.

1995

Invited teams

Club	Country
Avaí	Brazil
Barcelona	Ecuador
C.A. Cerro	Uruguay
Coritiba	Brazil
Criciúma	Brazil
Estudiantes	Argentina
Figueirense	Brazil
Grêmio	Brazil
Internacional	Brazil
Joinville	Brazil
Juventude	Brazil
Marcílio Dias	Brazil
Nacional	Uruguay
Olimpia	Paraguay
Peñarol	Uruguay
Racing	Argentina

Barcelona, Estudiantes, Grêmio, Internacional, Juventude, Peñarol and Racing declined the invitation to play in the competition.

Organizers of the competition

The organizers of the competition were Centertur and Estratégia B. Cecrisa, Construtora Caseca, Petrobras, and Sadia were the companies that supported the competition.

Format

The first round was played in four playoff matches. Marcílio Dias got a bye in this round. In the second round, Marcílio Dias played against one of the first round qualified teams for a semifinal spot. The next round was the semifinal round, followed by the final.

Results

First round

Home team	Score	Away team
Figueirense	2-2 (aet 1-0)	Olimpia
Joinville	3-0	Coritiba
Avaí	4-2	Nacional
Criciúma	2-0	C.A. Cerro
Marcílio Dias	bye	-

Intermediate round

Home team	Score	Away team
Marcílio Dias	1-0	Criciúma

Semifinals

Home team	Score	Away team
Joinville	1-0	Avaí
Figueirense	1-0	Marcílio Dias

Final

Home team	Score	Away team
Figueirense	0-0 (aet 1-0)	Joinville

Torneio Mercosul 1995 Winners
Santa Catarina Figueirense First Title

Statistics

Number of matches	8
Total goals	20
Average Goals per match	2.5 per match
Highest scoring match (6 goals)	Avaí-Nacional 4-2
Highest score (3 goals)	Joinville-Coritiba 3-0
Biggest attendance	Figueirense-Joinville 0-0 (aet 1-0) (5,271 people)
Biggest revenue	Figueirense-Joinville 0-0 (aet 1-0) (R$ 48,469.00)
Club with biggest revenue	Figueirense (R$ 89,110.00)

Overview

The tournament was considered a failure. One of the reasons was that Centertur used a rubber check to pay the accommodations of Olimpia at Hotel Mariner Plaza in Itajaí. Also, many traditional teams declined to play the tournament, exhausting the competition before it started. The tournament was discontinued and three years later, the Copa Mercosur's first edition was played.

1996

There was also an empty edition of the competition, with just three teams in 1996.

Invited teams

Club	Country
Internacional	Brazil
San Lorenzo	Argentina
Universidad Católica	Chile

Final standings

Team	Pts	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Internacional	12	4	4	0	0	10	1	+9
Universidad Católica	3	3	1	0	2	3	6	-3
San Lorenzo	0	3	0	0	3	0	6	-6

Torneio Mercosul 1996 Winners
Rio Grande do Sul Internacional First Title

See also

• Copa Mercosur

References

• (in Portuguese) Iª Copa Mercosul 1995