Montevideo City Torque are in the 2026 Copa Sudamericana semifinals, and the club’s rise matters as much as the tie itself. Born as Club Atlético Torque in 2007, then purchased in 2017 by the City Football Group, they are now one step from a first continental final after a remarkable climb.
The project behind the semifinal run
The club changed its emblems in 2020 and climbed from Segunda to Uruguay’s Primera División between 2017 and 2019. That is the backdrop to this run, and it is hard to ignore how quickly the level has shifted. Relevo quoted the club on the semifinal night as, "Semi-final night of @Sudamericana against @Atletico. We play it all 🇺🇾".
The route has also been built on results at home. Montevideo City Torque have 7 victories and 3 draws in the Copa Sudamericana on their own ground, a record that has carried them through wins over Grêmio, Deportivo Riestra and Palestino.
Atletico-MG and the road to Barranquilla
The tournament account of CONMEBOL Sudamericana summed up the stage with, "The CONMEBOL #Sudamericana semifinal bracket! This is how the road to Barranquilla turned out". Torque’s tie with Atletico-MG sits inside that route, and Marcelo Méndez’s side have earned it with a project that has moved far faster than most clubs manage.
Atletico-MG arrive with mixed recent form in the limited verified sample available, with one win and one loss across two matches. That does not decide a semifinal, but it does leave Torque facing an opponent that has not come in on a clean run.
The bigger story, though, is still Torque itself. A club founded less than two decades ago is now in the last four of a continental competition, and the first final remains the target from here.
Written by Sam Whitfield with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
