Copa América

History

South American Football Championship era (1916–1967)

The first football team in South America, Lima Cricket and Football Club, was established in Peru in 1859, and the Argentine Football Association was founded in 1893. By the early 20th century, football was growing in popularity, and the first international competition held among national teams of the continent occurred in 1910 when Argentina organized an event to commemorate the centenary of the May Revolution. Chile and Uruguay participated, but this event is not considered official by CONMEBOL. Similarly, for the centennial celebration of its independence, Argentina held a tournament between 2 and 17 July 1916 with Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Brazil being the first participants of the tournament. This so-called Campeonato Sudamericano de Football would be the first edition of what is currently known as Copa América; Uruguay would triumph in this first edition after tying 0–0 with hosts Argentina in the deciding, last match held in Estadio Racing Club in Avellaneda.

Seeing the success of the tournament, a boardmember of the Uruguayan Football Association, Héctor Rivadavia, proposed the establishment of a confederation of the associations of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay. On 9 July, independence day in Argentina, CONMEBOL was founded. The following year, the competition was played again, this time in Uruguay. Uruguay would win the title again to win their bicampeonato after defeating Argentina 1–0 in the last match of the tournament. The success of the tournament on Charrúan soil would help consolidate the tournament.

After a flu outbreak in Rio de Janeiro canceled the tournament in 1918, Brazil hosted the tournament in 1919 and was crowned champion for the first time after defeating the defending champions 1–0 in a playoff match to decide the title, while the Chilean city of Viña del Mar would host the 1920 event which was won by Uruguay.

For the 1921 event, Paraguay participated for the first time after its football association affiliated to CONMEBOL earlier that same year. Argentina won the competition for the first time thanks to the goals of Julio Libonatti. In subsequent years, Uruguay would dominate the tournament, which at that time was the largest football tournament in the world. Argentina, however, would not be far behind and disputed the supremacy with the Charruas. After losing the 1928 final at the 1928 Summer Olympics held in Amsterdam, Argentina would gain revenge in the 1929 South American Championship by defeating the Uruguayans in the last, decisive match. During this period, both Bolivia and Peru debuted in the tournament in 1926 and 1927, respectively.

Copa América era (1975–present)

After eight years of absence, the event resumed in 1975 and officially acquired the name Copa América. The tournament had no fixed venue, and all matches were played throughout the year in each country. Nine teams participated in the group stages with the defending champions receiving a bye into the semifinals. The tournament was contested every four years using this system until 1987. It also no longer held the round-robin tournament format and instead incorporated a group stage, knockout round and a final.

In 1986, CONMEBOL decided to return to having one country host the tournament and to contest it every other year. From 1987 until 2001, the event was hosted every two years in rotation by the ten members of the confederation. The format would remain constant with a first round of groups, but the final round stage ranged from being a new, final round-robin group or a single-elimination system to decide the winner. This renewal helped the tournament, which began to receive television coverage in Europe and North America. The 1987 Copa América was held in Argentina; this was the first time the nation had hosted an edition in 28 years. Despite entering as heavy favorites for being the reigning world champions (having won the 1986 FIFA World Cup), playing at home and having a team largely composed of its World Cup winners led by the legendary Diego Maradona, Argentina would finish in a disappointing fourth place after being beaten by defending champions Uruguay 0–1 in the semifinals. Uruguay would defeat a surprisingly strong Chilean squad who made it to the final, disposing of the powerful Brazil 4–0 on the group stage.

Brazil lifted its first official international title since the 1970 FIFA World Cup upon winning the 1989 Copa América held on home soil. Argentina, in turn, won the Copa América after 32 long years in 1991 in Chile, thanks to a refreshed squad led by the prolific goalscorer Gabriel Batistuta. The 1993 Copa América tournament in Ecuador would take its current form. Along with the usual ten teams, CONMEBOL invited two countries from CONCACAF to participate, Mexico and the United States.

Uruguay managed to win the competition in 1995 as host, ending a period of decline for Uruguayan football. With the implementation of rotating hosts, Colombia, Paraguay and Venezuela hosted the tournament for the first time. Brazil entered a series of victories, winning four of the five continental titles between 1997 and 2007. The first, in 1997, was won after defeating host nation Bolivia 1–3 with goals from Leonardo, Denílson and Ronaldo becoming crucial in the Verde-Amarela's consecration on Bolivia's altitude. Brazil would successfully defend the title in 1999 after thumping Uruguay 3–0 in Asunción, Paraguay. However, the 2001 Copa América saw one of the biggest surprises of the history of the sport as Honduras eliminated Brazil in the quarterfinals. Colombia, the host nation, would go on to win the competition for the first time ever.

Hosts

In 1984, CONMEBOL adopted the policy of rotating the right to host the Copa América amongst the ten member confederations. The first rotation was completed following the 2007 Copa América which took place in Venezuela. A second rotation commenced in 2011, with host countries rotating in alphabetical order, starting with Argentina. Chile, Mexico and the United States expressed interest in hosting the next tournament, but the CONMEBOL Executive Committee decided to continue the execution of the rotation, giving priority of the organization to each of its member associations; each association confirms whether they will host an edition or not, having no obligation to do so. Argentina confirmed on 24 November 2008, via representatives of the Argentine Football Association, that it would host the 2011 Copa América.

The 2015 Copa América was due to be held in Brazil following the order of rotation. However, as Brazil was hosting both the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics, the decision was reconsidered. Although CONMEBOL President Nicolas Leoz proposed hosting the continental tournament in Mexico (a member of the CONCACAF federation) and board members Brazil and Chile discussed the possibility of exchanging the 2015 and 2019 tournaments, it was decided and confirmed by the CBF in February 2011 that the 2015 Copa América would remain in Brazil. However, in March 2012, CBF president Ricardo Teixeira resigned from his position and the CBF agreed to swap the tournament's hosting with Chile. The swap was made official in May 2012. The centennial edition of the tournament, Copa América Centenario, took place in June 2016, and was held in the United States, and marked the first time the tournament was hosted by a non-CONMEBOL nation.

Each Copa América since 2005 has had its own mascot. Gardelito, the mascot for the 1987 competition, was the first Copa América mascot.

Format and rules

In early tournaments all teams competed in a round-robin stage, while later ones saw the teams were split into different groups followed by a single-elimination knockout stage.

Notes

The tournament was previously known as Campeonato Sudamericano de Futbol (South American Championship of Football). South American Championship of Nations was the official English language name. The current name has been used since 1975. Up to 1967 if there was a tie of points at the top of the standings, a playoff match (or matches) would be held to determine the champion. Between 1975 and 1983 it had no fixed host nation, and was held in a home and away fashion. The current final tournament features 12 national teams competing over a month in the host nation. There are two phases: the group stage followed by the knockout stage. In the group stage, teams compete within three groups of four teams each. Three teams are seeded, including the hosts, with the other seeded teams selected using a formula based on the FIFA World Rankings. The other teams are assigned to different "pots", usually based also on the FIFA Rankings, and teams in each pot are drawn at random to the three groups.

Each group plays a round-robin tournament, in which each team is scheduled for three matches against other teams in the same group. In earlier tournaments, the last round of matches of each group were not scheduled at the same time unlike many tournaments around the world for unknown reasons, although more recent tournaments have adopted this rule. The top two teams from each group advance to the knockout stage. Points are used to rank the teams within a group. Beginning in 1995, three points have been awarded for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss (before, winners received two points).

The ranking of each team in each group is determined as follows:

a) greatest number of points obtained in all group matches;

b) goal difference in all group matches;

c) greatest number of goals scored in all group matches.

Participating teams

All registered national federations of CONMEBOL, of which there currently are ten, are eligible for automatic berths in the tournament. Since the competition's rebranding in 1975, there has been only one occasion when one of those teams missed out on a tournament: Argentina withdrew from the 2001 edition due to scheduling and security disagreements.

Owing to this somewhat limited number of available participants, countries from other continents have usually been invited to make up the 12 teams necessary for the current tournament format since 1993. Most often those have been from CONCACAF, whose members are geographically and culturally close. For the centennial edition in 2016 and for the one in 2024, reflecting the number of teams being increased to 16, qualification stages were held for the CONCACAF teams.

In all, ten non-South American nations have participated in Copa América at least once: CONCACAF members Canada, Costa Rica, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, and the United States, as well as AFC members Japan and Qatar. Two other teams, China and Australia, had accepted invitations respectively for 2015 and 2021, but both did not end up appearing because of clashes with other commitments. Moreover, Spain was invited to the 2011 edition but declined to participate.

Trophies

The Copa América trophy, which is awarded to the winners of the tournament, was donated to the Association by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Argentina, Ernesto Bosch, in 1910, when Argentina organized an event to commemorate the centenary of the May Revolution. That competition (also attended by Uruguay and Chile) was named "Copa del Centenario" (Centennial Cup).

The current Copa América trophy was purchased in 1916 from "Casa Escasany", a jewelry shop in Buenos Aires, at the cost of 3,000 Swiss francs.

The Copa América trophy is a 9 kg (20 lb) weight and 77 cm (30 in) tall silver ornament, with a 3-level wooden base which contains several plaques. The plaques are engraved with every winner of the competition, as well as the edition won. The trophy previously had a one- and two-level base , and prior to 1979 there was no base at all, like the one used in 1975.

In April 2016, a commemorative trophy – specifically designed for the Copa América Centenario – was introduced at the Colombian Football Federation headquarters of Bogotá to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the competition. The trophy was based on the original Copa América trophy's shape, added with the 2016 edition logo. The trophy was not to have a base. The CAC was 61 cm (24 in) tall with a weight of 7.1 kg (16 lb), covered by 24-carat gold. The emblems of CONMEBOL and CONCACAF were also engraved on its body.

The commemorative Copa América Centenario trophy was designed by Epico Studios in the United States and manufactured by London Workshops of Thomas Lyte in England. The winning team will keep the trophy in perpetuity.

Apart from the main trophy, the "Copa Bolivia" (a small trophy made in silver) has been awarded to the runner-up of the competition since the 1997 edition. The trophy is named after the country that hosted the 1997 Copa América, with a small Bolivian flag attached on one of its sides.

Results

Tournament name

1916–1967: "South American Championship"

1975–present: "Copa América"

Key

aet: after extra time

p: penalty shoot-out

Final played in two-legged format (with a playoff if necessary).

Notes

First trophy by nation

Among the 8 historical winners, 6 of them won Copa América for the first time when playing at home. The only exceptions are Uruguay (1916) and Paraguay (1953) – both winning their first title on a foreign soil though Uruguay won additionally at home one year later (1917).

Records and statistics

Awards

There are currently five post-tournament awards

the Best Player for most valuable player, first awarded in 1987;

the Top Goalscorer for most prolific goal scorer;

the Best Goalkeeper for most outstanding goalkeeper, first awarded in 2011;

the Team of the Tournament for best combined team of players at the tournament;

the Fair Play Award for the team with the best record of fair play, first awarded in 2011.