- Coquimbo Unido have reached the CONMEBOL Libertadores Round of 16 for the first time in their history after topping Group B with 10 points.
- The ‘Aurinegro’ come into the knockout stage after being crowned Chilean champions in 2025, winning the first top-flight title in their century-long history. In the Round of 16, they will face Platense.
The port of Coquimbo has known pirates for centuries: English privateers sailed through its bay during colonial times, and the city’s club turned that maritime history into part of its identity and nickname. Today, the ‘Piratas’ are sailing waters they had never explored before. Coquimbo Unido, the ‘Aurinegro’, have reached the CONMEBOL Libertadores Round of 16 for the first time in their history, doing so with the authority of a team that has already redrawn the map of Chilean football.
That continental achievement was born from an even greater one. In 2025, Coquimbo Unido were crowned champions for the first time in their history, after nearly seven decades of existence. And it was no ordinary title run: they secured the championship with four matches to spare, put together a streak of fourteen consecutive wins, conceded just twelve goals and finished seventeen points clear of their nearest challengers. The title was sealed on November 2 with a 2-0 victory over Unión La Calera at the Estadio Francisco Sánchez Rumoroso, in front of nearly 18,000 supporters, on an afternoon the entire region would remember forever.
That championship carried added significance: it challenged Santiago’s long-standing dominance. Coquimbo became only the second club from outside the capital to win the title in 10 years — Huachipato had also done so in 2023 — and brought northern Chile back to the center of the football map. While Universidad Católica, the other Chilean representative in this edition of La Gloria Eterna, carries the flag for Santiago, the ‘Piratas’ offer a different story: that of a regional club that grew through identity, hard work and a strong sense of belonging.
In the 2026 CONMEBOL Libertadores, Coquimbo produced an outstanding campaign in only their second appearance in the competition — their first had come in 1992, when they failed to progress beyond the opening stage. They finished top of Group B with 10 points, ahead of Deportes Tolima, Universitario of Peru and Nacional of Uruguay, with a commanding 3-0 victory over the Colombian side among the highlights of their campaign. There was a change in the dugout after the title triumph: championship-winning coach Esteban González left the club, and in December 2025 Hernán Caputto, an Argentine-born naturalized Chilean, took charge with the mission of maintaining that momentum on the international stage.
Their Round of 16 opponents are also newcomers to this stage. Platense, the ‘Calamar’ from Vicente López, made their CONMEBOL Libertadores debut this season after winning the first title of their 120-year history in 2025. The Argentine side qualified as runners-up in Group E, behind Corinthians, and reach the knockout stage with the same hunger of a newcomer determined to keep the dream alive. Two first-time champions, two fanbases that only recently discovered the taste of glory, now face to face for a place among the continent’s final eight.
The tie will unfold in two celebratory settings. The first leg will be played on Wednesday, August 12 at the Estadio Ciudad de Vicente López, with Platense at home, while the return leg will take place on Wednesday, August 19 at the Francisco Sánchez Rumoroso, where Coquimbo will have home advantage in the decisive match after topping their group. For a city that learned to dream in 2025, the chance to host a decisive Libertadores night feels like the natural continuation of a story that has yet to reach its final chapter. The ‘Piratas’ have already set sail; now they want to go farther than ever before.
