At the moment, there may be quite a few people longing for a football competition in which, with cunning and skill, minnows can challenge the moneyed elite.
European football no longer provides such opportunity, not in the domestic leagues, not in the Champions League and even less so if the much-discussed Super League gets off the ground.
But a few thousand miles across the Atlantic, feats of sporting glory rather than demonstrations of greed are still a possibility. For now, at least.
Even the fabled Copa Libertadores, with its famous atmospheres and endless romance, is starting to lose something of what once made it so unpredictable. The prize money has increased significantly of late, which is allowing recent winners to stockpile talent in the same way as happens in Europe. A 2017 format change also favoured the richer clubs in Brazil and Argentina.
Still, though, there is room for minnows to challenge. And none of them pack more of a punch than Independiente Del Valle, the Ecuadorian club that will kick off their 2021 Copa Libertadores campaign proper on Wednesday night in Sangolqui, a suburb of Ecuador’s Andean capital Quito, in a stadium that seats just 7,000 people.
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