History Of The Copa America (1916-2019)

It all started when Argentina decided to organize a football competition for the centenary of their independence, to which Brazil, Chile and Uruguay were invited.

The CONMEBOL Copa America ? is more than 100 years old and is the oldest international tournament in the world.

The Former South American Championship (1916-1983)

The Copa América was born in Argentina in 1916 with the participation of Chile, Brazil and Uruguay.

The Charrúas lifted the first edition of the South American Championship.

The development of the tournament was somewhat chaotic but was consolidated until its remodeling in 1975.

The 3 Copa America With Multiple Countries (1975-1983)

After 8 years without competition (not held since 1967), the south american championship was again held under the name of Copa America in 1975.

It was held every four years and for three editions it was held without a fixed location, under a system of groups and round-trip qualifiers.

For the first time, all 10 CONMEBOL teams participated.

Copa America Argentina 1987

Twelve years later, the Copa America was once again held in a fixed location.

The South American tournament returned to its origins with Argentina as the organizer and Uruguay winning their 13th championship in an intense final against Chile.

Copa America Brazil 1989

In Brazil the format was changed again to decide the title in a group of 4 teams all against all.

Bebeto and Romário marked the differences in a championship in which Brazil avoided another Maracanzo.

The canarinha beat Uruguay in the match that decided the title and lifted the Copa America after 40 years.

Copa America Chile 1991

In Chile, the same format was repeated with an exciting four-team final.

Argentina did not have Maradona but won the Copa America with a stellar performance by Gabriel Batistuta.

The Albiceleste lifted the South American championship after 32 years.

Copa America Ecuador 1993

The great novelty of this Copa America was the extension to 12 participants.

Mexico and the United States joined a tournament that was organized in 3 groups and recovered the playoffs from the quarterfinals.

Argentina regained the title of champion

Copa America Uruguay 1995

The Copa America repeated format and participants for the 1995 edition.

The host team lifted the title after eight years after defeating Brazil in the penalty shootout.

Copa America Bolivia 1997

Costa Rica debuted in the tournament replacing the United States in a Cup lifted by the Brazilian national team.

Ronaldo Nazário was the star of a tournament in which Bolivia managed to reach the final…

Copa America Paraguay 1999

Brazil were crowned champions again, winning all their matches.

The canarinha took advantage of the good moment of Rivaldo, who was the best player of the competition.

Palermo missed 3 penalties in the same match and Japan came as the first non-American guest to play the Copa America…

Copa America Colombia 2001

Argentina renounced to participate in a championship that would conquer for the first time the national team of Colombia.

There were no incidents despite the fear of an attack performance by the FARC.

Copa America Peru 2004

Brazil and Argentina met for the first time in history in a final that had to be decided in the penalty shootout.

Adriano was the sensation of the championship scoring 7 goals and being the best player of the championship.

Copa America Venezuela 2007

The Classic of South American football was repeated in the final (Brazil vs Argetina).

This time there was no emotion and Brazil won by a resounding 3-0.

Robinho revealed himself as the best player of the championship.

Copa America Argentina 2011

Argentina was eliminated again by Uruguay in its own Copa America.

The Charrúas won their 15th trophy after beating Paraguay 3-0 in the final.

Copa America Chile 2015

Chile won the first-ever Copa America after beating Argentina in the penalty shootout.

Copa America Centenario 2016 (UNITED STATES)

Conmebol organized a special Copa America to commemorate the Centenary of the competition.

Chile and Argentina repeated the final with the same outcome. La Roja (Chile) won the penalty shootout for twice.

Copa America Brazil 2019

Brazil is hosting a Copa America again 30 years later.

Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Beo Horizonte, Porto Alegre and Salvador will host a tournament with 12 participants.

Japan and Qatar are the two teams invited.

Copa America Argentina And Colombia 2020

The next Copa America will be held in 2020 to fit the international calendar.

It will be the first tournament with 2 organizing countries.

Medellín, Cali, Barranquilla and Bogotá will be the Colombian host cities.

While Buenos Aires, Santiago de Estero, Mendoza, Córdoba and Avellaneda will host the Cup in Argentina.

Countries participating in the history of the Copa America

So far 19 countries have participated in the history of the competition.

CONMEBOL (10) – Venezuela, Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay and Argentina.

CONCACAF (7) – Costa Rica (1997, 2001, 2004, 2011 and 2016), United States (1993, 1995, 2007 and 2016), Haiti (2016), Honduras (2001), Jamaica (2015 and 2016), Mexico (1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2016) and Panama (2016).

AFC (1) – Japan in 1999 and 2019. Qatar in 2019. For the 2020 edition, Australia will be introduced.

Copa America Records

• Biggest scorer: Argentina 12-0 Ecuador -(Uruguay,1942).
• Most goals in all editions: Argentina with 455 goals.
• Most goals in one edition: Brazil with 46 goals (Brazil, 1949).
• Top Scorers: Norberto Méndez (Argentina, in 3 editions) and Zizinho (Brazil, in 6 editions) -17 goals
• Top scorers in a single edition: Jair da Rosa Pinto (Brazil, 1949), Humberto Maschio (Argentina, 1957) and Javier Ambrois (Uruguay, 1957) – 9 goals.
• First champion: Uruguay (Argentina, 1916).
• Country with the highest number of titles: Uruguay with 15 titles.

Copa America Winners’ Cup