- The 2008 champions won Group G with 12 points and will face Mirassol in the Round of 16: the tie will begin in Brazil on August 13 and be decided one week later in Quito.
- Semi-finalists in 2025, the Ecuadorian side return to the knockout stage with Deyverson and Yerlin Quiñónez as their leading scorers, Gonzalo Valle as a standout performer and Gustavo Álvarez as their new head coach.
Liga de Quito need no introduction to what it means to compete in the CONMEBOL Libertadores: it is part of the club’s identity. The only Ecuadorian side to have lifted the trophy and semi-finalists in the previous edition, LDU once again secured a place among the final 16 after winning a tightly contested Group G.
LDU and Mirassol both finished with 12 points, four wins and two defeats. They were also level in their head-to-head meetings — one 2-0 victory apiece — and in overall goal difference, at +3. Liga claimed top spot by virtue of having scored one more goal during the Group Stage: eight to Mirassol’s seven.
Their campaign was built on two key strengths. The first was a perfect home record: three matches, three victories and seven goals scored at the Rodrigo Paz Delgado. The second was their ability to survive difficult situations. On the opening matchday, Gonzalo Valle kept the team in the game at 4,150 metres above sea level in El Alto until Gabriel Villamil scored the winner in stoppage time. On the final matchday, with Always Ready leading 2-1 in Quito, Deyverson came off the bench and scored twice, turning temporary elimination into qualification as group winners.
Their Round of 16 opponents will be a familiar face. Liga defeated Mirassol 2-0 in Quito, but suffered the same scoreline in Brazil. The knockout tie will represent the third and fourth meetings between the two sides in just four months, with one crucial difference: this time, there will be no league table and no opportunity to recover lost points.
The team entering the tie will also be without the coach who led them through the Group Stage. Tiago Nunes left his position on July 16 and was replaced by Gustavo Álvarez, who took charge with less than three weeks to prepare for the first knockout tie of his tenure.
Liga de Quito in the 2026 CONMEBOL Libertadores: Results and Schedule
Group Stage — Group G
Matchday 1: Always Ready 0-1 Liga de Quito
Gabriel Villamil (90+4', assisted by Michael Estrada).
Matchday 2: Liga de Quito 2-0 Mirassol
Yerlin Quiñónez (6') and José Quintero (34', assisted by Janner Corozo).
Matchday 3: Lanús 1-0 Liga de Quito
Agustín Cardozo (74', assisted by Marcelino Moreno).
Matchday 4: Mirassol 2-0 Liga de Quito
Lucas Oliveira (47') and Reinaldo (61', penalty).
Matchday 5: Liga de Quito 2-0 Lanús
Felipe Peña Biafore (74', own goal, following a corner taken by Leonel Quiñónez) and Fernando Cornejo (90+1', assisted by Jeison Medina).
Matchday 6: Liga de Quito 3-2 Always Ready
Yerlin Quiñónez (6'), Deyverson (76') and Deyverson (88') / Enrique Triverio (18') and Fernando Nava (39').
Round of 16
First Leg: Mirassol vs. Liga de Quito
Thursday, August 13, 7:00 p.m. Brazil time / 5:00 p.m. Ecuador time, José Maria de Campos Maia Stadium, Mirassol.
Second Leg: Liga de Quito vs. Mirassol
Thursday, August 20, 5:00 p.m. Ecuador time, Rodrigo Paz Delgado Stadium, Quito.
Liga de Quito Coach in the 2026 CONMEBOL Libertadores: Gustavo Álvarez
The Group Stage campaign belongs to Tiago Nunes: the Brazilian coach was in charge for all six matches and left the team having qualified as group winners. However, results in the LigaPro brought about his departure on July 16, less than a month before the return of continental competition.
Liga chose 53-year-old Argentine coach Gustavo Álvarez as his replacement. He won the Chilean Primera División with Huachipato in 2023, the Copa Chile in 2024 and the Chilean Super Cup in 2025 with Universidad de Chile. Before arriving in Quito, he had managed Temperley, Aldosivi, Patronato, Sport Boys, Atlético Grau and San Lorenzo, his most recent spell in Argentine football.
His approach is built around compact teams, coordinated pressing and a desire to control possession without sacrificing attacking depth. His debut quickly generated excitement: a 6-0 victory over Leones in the Copa Ecuador, with Michael Estrada scoring a hat-trick. That was followed by a 2-1 comeback win over Delfín in the LigaPro and, in his third match, a 2-0 defeat against leaders Independiente del Valle.
Álvarez has had little time to reshape the team’s structure, but he inherits a squad with international experience, a formidable home record that produced nine points from nine in the Group Stage, and players accustomed to continental knockout football. His first major test will be a particularly unusual one: finding new answers against an opponent that already knows almost everything about Liga.
Full Liga de Quito Squad for the 2026 CONMEBOL Libertadores
*The final official squad list will be confirmed on Saturday, August 8.
Liga de Quito Key Player in the 2026 CONMEBOL Libertadores: Gonzalo Valle
The goalkeeper was the most consistent pillar of Liga’s qualification campaign. He played all six matches, kept three clean sheets and conceded just five goals in 540 minutes.
His defining performance came in the opening match against Always Ready. At a stadium located more than 4,000 metres above sea level, Valle denied the Bolivian side’s best chances and kept the score level until Michael Estrada’s assist and Gabriel Villamil’s dramatic late winner.
The goalkeeper’s reliability allowed Liga to stay alive in decisive moments even when the team’s overall performance was not at its best. In a tie between two sides that have already traded 2-0 victories, Valle’s ability to protect a result away from home could prove just as valuable as any goal.
Liga de Quito Top Scorer in the 2026 CONMEBOL Libertadores: Deyverson
The Brazilian shares top spot in Liga’s internal scoring chart with Yerlin Quiñónez, both on two goals, but the importance of Deyverson’s strikes changed the course of the group.
Deyverson started the decisive match against Always Ready on the bench. He came on after the break with Liga trailing 2-1 and temporarily out of the Round of 16, equalised 31 minutes into the second half and completed the comeback in the 43rd minute. He became only the second LDU player to score a brace as a substitute in a CONMEBOL competition, after Walter Calderón against Peñarol in 2011.
At 35, the striker knows the biggest stage in this competition. In 2021, he scored Palmeiras’ title-winning goal against Flamengo in extra time of the Final. He later had spells with Cuiabá, Atlético Mineiro and Fortaleza before joining Liga in January 2026.
His value goes beyond numbers. Deyverson occupies centre-backs, thrives in physical duels and forces opponents to stay alert to every ball delivered into the penalty area. Against Brazilian opposition and in a knockout tie with little margin for error, his experience could become an emotional factor as well as a footballing one.
Liga de Quito Factor X in the 2026 CONMEBOL Libertadores: Yerlin Quiñónez
There is one detail that perfectly sums up his ability to influence matches from the opening stages: both of his Group Stage goals came exactly six minutes into the game. He opened the scoring in the 2-0 win over Mirassol and repeated the feat against Always Ready on the final matchday.
Quiñónez can play as a winger or take on wing-back duties, a versatility that is especially valuable for Gustavo Álvarez as he switches between different systems. His pace allows Liga to stretch the pitch, attack the space behind opposing full-backs and alter the height of the team’s block without requiring a substitution.
Mirassol have already experienced the threat of his runs from the left in Quito. The challenge will be to reproduce that impact in Brazil, where Liga lost control of the wide areas and struggled to find depth. If LDU can free Quiñónez to run forward rather than simply track back, they will have a route to breaking open a tie that looks likely to be decided by fine margins.
Liga de Quito History in the CONMEBOL Libertadores
Liga de Quito occupy a unique place in Ecuadorian football: they are the only club from the country to have won the CONMEBOL Libertadores. They achieved it in 2008, after defeating Fluminense 4-2 in the first leg of the Final in Quito.
The Brazilian side won the return leg 3-1 at the Maracanã to force a penalty shootout. That was when José Francisco Cevallos stepped forward, saving three spot-kicks to give LDU a 3-1 shootout victory and the first official international title in the history of Ecuadorian football.
That triumph marked the beginning of a remarkable continental collection that continued with the 2009 CONMEBOL Sudamericana, the 2009 and 2010 Recopa titles, and a second Sudamericana crown in 2023. With five official international trophies, Liga are the most successful Ecuadorian club outside their domestic borders.
Recent memories also fuel their ambition. In 2025, they eliminated Botafogo and São Paulo, then defeated Palmeiras 3-0 in the first leg of the Semi-finals and came within one step of reaching the Final. The Brazilian side, however, overturned the tie with a 4-0 victory at Allianz Parque.
One year later, Liga return to the knockout stage as group winners and with the opportunity to decide their first tie in Quito. Before thinking about the Final on November 28 in Montevideo, they must first overcome a familiar challenge: a Mirassol side that has already beaten them, but also knows exactly what it means to visit the Rodrigo Paz Delgado.
