THE america cup is a tournament of South American soccer teams affiliated to the South American Football Confederation (Conmebol). Played for over 100 years, Copa América is the oldest competition in the world between soccer teams.
As a test, the first edition Copa América was held in 1910, between the 2nd and 17th of July. The tournament was held in Argentina to celebrate the centenary of the country's independence. Chile, Uruguay and Brazil, in addition to the host country, participated in this first edition. The first champion was Uruguay, after playing the final game with Argentina at Estádio Presidente Perón.
Presidente Perón Stadium, home to the final of the first Copa America. [1]
Conmebol only recognized the tournament as being official in 1916. That year, the competition was promoted in Uruguay, and the hosts became two-time champions, beating Argentina again in the final. Brazil hosted the tournament in 1919, when it became champion for the first time. The Brazilians beat Uruguay, 1-0, in the decisive match.
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The year 1921 marked the first participation of Paraguay, after having affiliated with Conmebol. This edition was also the first won by Argentina. In the following years, Uruguay dominated the tournament that, at the time, was the biggest football championship on the planet, as the world Cup it didn't exist yet.
Until 1967, the tournament was called the South American Football Championship, only in 1975, in its 30th edition, the competition was officially called Copa América. In addition, Conmebol also made changes to the dispute system. The system of this championship, which used to run points, started to have a format similar to that of the Cup of the World, with a qualifying phase, teams distributed in groups and then phases qualifiers.
Frequency and format
In 2018, Conmebol asked the International Football Federation (Fifa) to change the dispute of america cup. It was defined by the institutions that, from 2020, the championship will follow the dates of the Euro Cup, that is, the Copa America will be held every four years.
in your first editions, the Copa America was held annually until 1929. There was the exception for 1918, for the flu outbreak in Brazil, and 1928, for the Olympic Games.
After the first World Cup, in 1930, there were political differences between Argentina and Uruguay, which caused a halt in the competition. Only in 1935 was it possible to dispute an edition of the event, which was officially reinstated in the calendar in 1939.
During the following years, the competition was not played regularly. As a result, the tournament went eight years without being held. The competition was resumed in 1975, when it received the name of Copa América, but until then, the tournament had no fixed venue and matches were played throughout the year in each country. At that time, nine teams participated in the group stage with the champion entering the semifinals.
Between 1987 and 2001, the Copa America was held every two years in rotation by the ten members of the confederation. The format was constant, with the first round of groups. The final part varied between a new final group or a single elimination system to decide the winner.
In the following years, until 2007, the competition started to be played every three years. As of 2007, the frequency is every four years, with the exception of the tournament's centenary in 2016. This last year was also registered as the first time that Copa América was held outside the South American continent. The host country was the United States.
USA x Argentina at the Copa América Centenario 2016, held in the United States.[2]
Currently, 12 teams participate in the tournament, 10 of them affiliated with Conmebol and the other two as guests. The tournament is played in the group stage (four teams divided into three groups). Rank the top three in each group for the quarterfinals. Then semifinals and final are held.
Guests
As of 1993, Conmebol started to count with teams from other federations as guests in the Cup America, mainly, the teams of the Football Confederation of North, Central and Caribbean America (Concacaf). Japan also participated in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
The first guests were the United States and Mexico. In 2016, in the centenary edition, six selections were invited.
In total, up to 2016, eight teams from other continents participated in the Copa America. Check out:
Concaf: 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: Japan (1999);
In 2019, Qatar was the debut team in the Copa America. The Japan team was also among the guests;
In 2021, period of the coronavirus pandemic, there were no guests and only the 10 teams from South America participate in the tournament.
Copa America in Brazil
Brazilian team in the Copa America 2016 dispute. [3]
Brazil has hosted the Copa America five times, the last in 2019. According to the rotation, Brazil should have hosted the 2015 Copa America, but with the organization of the Confederations Cup of 2013, the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games, the country exchanged order with Chile, which hosted the event in 2015.
The 2019 edition was held between June 14th and July 7th, in Belo Horizonte, Porto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and São Paulo. The selected stadiums were Arena Corinthians, Arena do Grêmio, Arena Fonte Nova, Estádio do Maracanã, Estádio do Morumbi and Estádio Mineirão.
The following teams participated in the Copa America 2019: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela, Japan and Qatar.
Maracanã Stadium hosted the final of the Copa America 2019. [4]
In 2021 the Copa América will also be held in Brazil. Initially, the continental competition would be played in Argentina and Colombia, but a few weeks before the start of the Cup, the countries gave up on hosting the matches. Colombia claimed the moment of political instability in the country, with several protests taking place in the streets. Argentina, on the other hand, suffers from the worsening of the coronavirus pandemic.
The decision to send the competition to Brazil was criticized by the press and by part of the population, as at the time of holding the event the pandemic is not under control in the country and there are also political protests against the federal government in streets.
With the changes resulting from the pandemic, it is the first time that Brazil has hosted the competition for two consecutive years. THE Copa America 2021 will be held between June 13th and July 10th. The cities chosen as headquarters were Brasília (DF), Cuiabá (MT), Goiânia (GO) and Rio de Janeiro (RJ).
scorers
at Copa America and is the top scorer
next to the Uruguayan Norberto Mendes.[5]
Brazil and Argentina share the position of having the two top scorers in the history of Copa América. the argentinian Norberto Mendes scored 17 goals, the same number as the Brazilian zizinho. The difference is that Norberto competed in four editions of the Copa América (1945, 1946 and 1947) and Zizinho participated in six (1942, 1945, 1946, 1949, 1953 and 1957).
The top scorers in a single edition were Jair da Rosa Pinto (Brazil - 1949), Humberto Maschio (Argentina -1975) and Javier Ambrois (Uruguay – 1975), with nine goals scored each.
greatest champions
The greatest champion in the history of Copa America is Uruguay, with 15 titles. Right after is Argentina, with one less title. Brazil is in third place and has won the Copa América nine times, but in recent years the Brazilian record has been better than that of the opponents.
The Brazilian team has had four victories in recent years, against just one of the Uruguayans and none of the Argentines. The last Argentine victory was in 1993. The Uruguayans won in 2011.
See all Copa America titles:
Parents |
Titles |
Uruguay |
15 (1916, 1917, 1920, 1923, 1924, 1926, 1935, 1942, 1956, 1959, 1967, 1983, 1987, 1995, 2011) |
Argentina |
14 (1921, 1925, 1927, 1929, 1937, 1941, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1991, 1993) |
Brazil |
9 (1919, 1922, 1949, 1989, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2007, 2019) |
Paraguay |
2 (1953, 1979) |
Chile |
2 (2015, 2016) |
Peru |
2 (1939, 1975) |
Colombia |
1 (2001) |
Bolivia |
1 (1963) |
Trophy
Conmebol Museum. [6]
The Copa America had only two trophies. The first was called Copa América and produced in 1916 and 1917, in Buenos Aires. The trophy was commissioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Argentina to be donated to Conmebol.
The cup is made of silver and the base of wood. The plates of the champion countries were only added in 1979, in the edition won by Paraguay. The trophy can't remain definitively with the champion team either.
The second trophy was made especially for the Copa América Centenário, in 2016. The cup is made of metal, with a silver internal finish and gold plated on the outside. The final inauguration went to the champion of that edition, Chile.
Curiosities
- In the first Copa America there was a lack of judges. The tournament final was refereed by the Chilean coach;
- Ecuador and Venezuela are the only countries in South America that have never won the Copa América;
- Even if Brazil and Argentina live in the discussion of “Who was better? Pelé or Maradona?”, in the Copa América, neither of them won titles;
- To compete in the first Copa América, held in Argentina, the Brazilian team traveled to Buenos Aires by train. The trip took six days and, in the final stretch, they took a ship;
America in 2011 by Uruguay. [7]
- Uruguayan Diego Forlán, winning the Copa América in 2011, was the third generation of his family to lift the cup. His father, Pablo Forlán, and his maternal grandfather, Juan Carlos Corrazo, who was coach, also won the competition in previous years;
- The biggest routs of the competition were from Argentina. In 1942, Argentina thrashed Ecuador 12-0 and, in 1975, Venezuela 11-0. The third biggest rout was Brazilian. Brazil, in 1949, thrashed Bolivia 10-1;
- 150 minutes of game: In 1919, in the competition held in Brazil, there was the longest game in the history of Copa América. In the final, Brazil faced Uruguay and, after the draw in the opening 90 minutes, there were two more times of 15. The tie remained and there were two more times of 15, as penalties did not exist yet. Brazil won 1-0 and won the first title;
- In 1975, 1979 and 1983 the Copa América did not have a fixed venue. The games were held in the participating countries, on a return basis;
- Brazil was the team that scored the most goals in a single edition of Copa América. There were 46 goals in 1949.
Image credit:
[Cover image] Uruguay national team: Анна Нэсси | Wikimedia Commons
[1] Presidente Perón Stadium: Public domain | Wikimedia Commons
[2] Centenary Cup Game: J Dimas | Wikimedia Commons
[3] Photo of the Selection: Betto Rodrigues | Shutterstock
[4] Photo of Maracanã: T photography | Shutterstock
[5] Zizinho: Poster by CR Flamengo | Wikimedia Commons
[6] Copa America Trophy: Hazaña17 | Wikimedia Commons
[7] Forlán: ailura | Wikimedia Commons
By Giullya Franco
Journalist
