The 2024 Copa Ecuador (officially known as the Copa Ecuador DirecTV PlayGreen 2024 for sponsorship purposes)[1] was the fourth edition of the Copa Ecuador, Ecuador's domestic football cup. It began on 19 June 2024 and ended with the single-match final on 27 November 2024.
For this season, the competition was played as a single knockout tournament, unlike the previous season in which a semifinal group was implemented, and was divided into four stages. The first of those four stages was a qualifying one which was intended to be played by four teams: the two worst placed Segunda Categoría teams in the previous season and the amateur runner-up and third-placed teams, but this round eventually only involved one Segunda Categoría team and an amateur one. The qualifying stage winners advanced to the first stage, in which the 10 Ecuadorian Serie B teams, the remaining Segunda Categoría ones and the amateur champions entered the competition.
The 16 Ecuadorian Serie A teams joined the competition in the second stage, comprising the round of 32, round of 16, quarter-finals and semi-finals, whilst the third stage was the final match between the two semi-final winners.[3] All rounds in the competition except for the semi-finals were played over a single leg, which was hosted by the team from the lower tier or the worst placed team in the season's aggregate table if both teams were from the same league. The semi-finals were played over two legs.[4]
Prizes
The champions of this edition (or the runners-up, if the champions had already qualified) qualified for the 2025 Copa Libertadores, taking the Ecuador 4 berth in that competition, as well as the 2025 Supercopa Ecuador against the 2024 Ecuadorian Serie A champions.[5] Monetary prizes were also granted for this edition, with the champions being awarded US$340,000 and the runners-up receiving US$200,000. The two losing semi-finalists were awarded US$80,000, the quarter-finalists received US$50,000, whilst teams eliminated in the round of 16, first round and eliminatory stage were awarded US$30,000, US$20,000 and US$10,000, respectively.[3]
The qualifying stage was played as a single match between the worst placed team in the 2023 Segunda Categoría's general standings and the amateur league runner-up. The winner advanced to the first stage.
The LDU Cuenca v Junior match had been awarded to Junior by walkover due to LDU Cuenca changing their team match sheet from the one originally handed over to the match officials.[18] However, the decision was overturned after a successful appeal by LDU Cuenca.[19]
Note: The match, originally scheduled for 25 September 2024 at 19:00 local time, was first moved to 17:00 due to scheduled nationwide blackouts and later postponed to 2 October due to wildfires in the Quito area.[20][21]
