Copa América

The Copa América (Spanish and Portuguese for "America Cup") is the main football competition of the men's national football teams governed by CONMEBOL, the South American football confederation. It is the oldest surviving international tournament in the world starting in 1916. The participating nations are Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. Two invited teams from other confederations complete the twelve team tournament: Mexico has been a regular since they were invited for the first time in 1993. There is no qualification stage: all ten CONMEBOL teams compete by right, and others by invitation. The highest finishing member of CONMEBOL has the right to participate in the next edition of the FIFA Confederations Cup, but is not obliged to do so.

Historical overview

The Copa América is the oldest surviving international football competition in the world. It was held for the first time between July 2 and July 17, 1916 and won by Uruguay, as part of the commemorations of Argentina's independence centenary. CONMEBOL was founded during this event, on July 9 (Argentina's independence day). It was normally held every two years (though the intervals sometimes changed) until 2007, when CONMEBOL decided that the tournament would henceforth be held every four years, although provision was made for extraordinary stagings of the tournament if the ten national football federations wish it.

The tournament was previously known as Campeonato Sudamericano de Selecciones (South American Championship of National Teams). South American Championship of Nations was the official English language name. The current name has been used since 1975. Between 1975 and 1983 it had no host nation, and was held in a home and away fashion. In 1984, CONMEBOL adopted the policy of rotating the right to host the Copa América amongst the ten member confederations. The first rotation has now been completed following the Copa América 2007 which took place in Venezuela. A second rotation has been agreed to begin in 2011, with host countries rotating in alphabetical order, starting with Argentina.

Since 1993, two teams from other confederations, usually from CONCACAF whose members are geographically and culturally close, are also invited. Nations receiving invitations are Costa Rica (1997, 2001, 2004), Honduras (2001), Japan (1999), Mexico (1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2007), and the United States (1993, 1995, 2007). The United States has been invited every time since 1997 but frequently turned down the invitation due to scheduling conflicts with Major League Soccer. However, on October 30, 2006, the US Soccer Federation accepted the invitation for participation in the 2007 tournament, ending a 12 year absence. At Copa América 2001, Canada was an invitee, but on July 6, 2001 withdrew because of security concerns.

Tournament results

South American Championship
Year	Host		Final Group Rank
			Winner	Runner-up	3rd Place	4th Place
1916 Details (3)
1917 Details
1919 Details
1920 Details
1921 Details
1922 Details
1923 Details
1924 Details
1925 Details (1)						n/a
1926 Details
1927 Details
1929 Details
1935 Details (4)
1937 Details
1939 Details
1941 Details (4)
1942 Details
1945 Details (4)
1946 Details (4)
1947 Details
1949 Details
1953 Details
1955 Details
1956 Details (4)
1957 Details
1959 Details
1959 Details (4)
1963 Details
1967 Details

Copa America
Year	Host		Final				Third Place Match
			Winner	Score	Runner-up		3rd Place	Score	4th Place
1975 Details	No fixed venue			0 - 1 / 2 - 0 Play-off 1 - 0				na(2)
1979 Details	No fixed venue			3 - 0 / 0 - 1 Play-off 0 - 0				n/a(2)
1983 Details	No fixed venue			2 - 0 / 1 - 1				n/a(2)
1987 Details				1 - 0				2 - 1
1989 Details				1 - 0				0 - 0
1991 Details				3 - 2				1 - 1
1993 Details				2 - 1				1 - 0
1995 Details				1 - 1 5-3 pens				4 - 1
1997 Details				3 - 1				1 - 0
1999 Details				3 - 0				2 - 1
2001 Details				1 - 0				2 - 2 5-4 pens
2004 Details				2 - 2 4-2 pens				2 - 1
2007 Details				3 - 0				3 - 1
2011 Details

(invited teams in italics)

• Key:
• pens - after penalty shootout

Distribution of championships won

Champions	Nation	Year(s)
14 times		1916, 1917, 1920, 1923, 1924, 1926, 1935, 1942, 1956, 1959, 1967, 1983, 1987, 1995
14 times		1921, 1925, 1927, 1929, 1937, 1941, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1991, 1993
8 times		1919, 1922, 1949, 1989, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2007
2 times		1953, 1979
2 times		1939, 1975
1 time		2001
1 time		1963

Tournament appearances

Appearances	Nation
40
38
35
33
32
28
24
23
18
14
7
3
1

General Stats

Team		Pts	P	W	D	L	F	A	Dif	Rend
1		368	175	112	32	31	431	168	+263	70.1%
2		342	186	104	30	52	386	212	+174	61.3%
3		315	167	95	30	42	387	191	+196	62.9%
4		214	153	61	31	61	242	269	-27	46.6%
5		187	163	53	28	82	248	297	-49	38.2%
6		167	132	41	32	55	193	220	-27	42.2%
7		128	99	36	20	43	121	174	-53	43.1%
8		82	102	19	25	58	97	257	-160	26.8%
9		61	38	17	10	11	55	44	+11	53.5%
10		61	108	14	19	75	113	297	-184	18.8%
11		15	49	2	9	38	34	155	-121	10.2%
12		11	11	3	2	6	12	21	-9	33.3%
13		10	6	3	1	2	7	5	+2	55.6%
14		8	12	2	2	7	11	21	-10	22.2%
15		1	3	0	1	2	3	8	-5	11.1%

Distribution of hosts

Topscorers

• 1916 : Isabelino Gradín : 3 goals
• 1917 : Ángel Romano : 4 goals
• 1919 : Neco Arthur Friedenreich : 4 goals
• 1920 : Angel Romano José Pérez : 3 goals
• 1921 : Julio Libonatti : 3 goals
• 1922 : Julio Francia : 4 goals
• 1923 : Pedro Petrone Valdino Aguirre : 3 goals
• 1924 : Pedro Petrone : 4 goals
• 1925 : Manuel Seoane : 6 goals
• 1926 : David Arellano : 7 goals
• 1927 : Roberto Figueroa : 4 goals
• 1929 : Aurelio González : 5 goals
• 1935 : Herminio Masantonio : 4 goals
• 1937 : Raúl Toro : 7 goals
• 1939 : Teodoro Fernández : 7 goals
• 1941 : Juan Marvezzi : 5 goals
• 1942 : Herminio Masantonio José Manuel Moreno : 7 goals
• 1945 : Norberto Méndez Heleno de Freitas : 6 goals
• 1946 : José María Medina : 7 goals
• 1947 : Nicolás Falero : 8 goals
• 1949 : Jair Rosa Pinto : 9 goals
• 1953 : Francisco Molina : 7 goals
• 1955 : Rodolfo Micheli : 8 goals
• 1956 : Enrique Hormazábal : 4 goals
• 1957 : Humberto Maschio Javier Ambrois : 9 goals
• 1959 : Pelé : 8 goals
• 1963 : Carlos Alberto Raffo : 6 goals
• 1967 : Luis Artime : 5 goals
• 1975 : Leopoldo Luque Ernesto Díaz : 4 goals
• 1979 : Jorge Peredo Eugenio Morel : 4 goals
• 1983 : Carlos Aguilera Jorge Burruchaga Roberto Dinamite : 3 goals
• 1987 : Arnoldo Iguarán : 4 goals
• 1989 : Bebeto : 6 goals
• 1991 : Gabriel Batistuta : 6 goals
• 1993 : José Luis Dolguetta : 4 goals
• 1995 : Gabriel Batistuta Luis García Postigo : 4 goals
• 1997 : Luis Hernández : 6 goals
• 1999 : Ronaldo,Rivaldo : 5 goals
• 2001 : Víctor Aristizábal : 6 goals
• 2004 : Adriano : 7 goals
• 2007 : Robinho : 6 goals

Overall top scorers

17 Goals

• Norberto Méndez
• Zizinho 15 Goals
• Severino Varela
• Teodoro Fernández 13 Goals
• Gabriel Batistuta
• Ademir
• Jair da Rosa Pinto
• Héctor Scarone
• Jose Manuel Moreno 12 Goals
• Angel Romano 11 Goals
• Herminio Masantonio
• Victor Ugarte 10 Goals
• Ronaldo
• Oscar Gómez
• Héctor Castro
• Didi
• Enrique Hormazábal
• Arnoldo Iguarán
• Ángel Labruna

See also

• South American Youth Championship
• Copa América 2007
• 1910 Copa America (unofficial)

References

External links

• RSSSF archive - includes extensive match reports.
• Football in South America - where best to watch football games.

Hosts	Nation	Year(s)
9 times		1916, 1921, 1925, 1929, 1937, 1946, 1959, 1987, 2011
7 times		1917, 1923, 1924, 1942, 1956, 1967, 1995
6 times		1920, 1926, 1941, 1945, 1955, 1991
6 times		1927, 1935, 1939, 1953, 1957, 2004
4 times		1919, 1922, 1949, 1989
3 times		1947, 1959, 1993
2 times		1963, 1997
1 time		2001
1 time		1999
1 time		2007
3 times	No Host	1975, 1979, 1983