A Collection: All the Champions of the CONMEBOL Copa América™

• In the United States, the 48th edition of the CONMEBOL Copa América™ will be played.
• Eight teams have lifted the trophy, with Argentina and Uruguay having won the most titles with 15 trophies each.

-Tournament Beginnings (1916-1937) –

In 1916, the first edition of the CONMEBOL Copa América™, then called the South American Championship, was held with four teams (Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, and Brazil). It took place in Argentina, was won by Uruguay, and in the same year, a few months later, CONMEBOL was founded with those four participants as founders of one of the world’s most important confederations. The following three editions remained with four participants, and on two occasions (1917 and 1920), Uruguay won the championship again. Brazil managed to win for the first time in 1919. In 1921, Paraguay joined the tournament, and Argentina won its first title in the competition. The 1922 edition was won by Brazil before Uruguay achieved another back-to-back championship (1923 and 1924). The 1925 edition had the fewest participants in the tournament’s history: Argentina (champion), Brazil, and Paraguay participated. In the following years, Bolivia (1926) and Peru (1927) would join the tournament. Uruguay and Argentina, respectively, were the champions of those tournaments. The tournaments from 1929 to 1937 would be won by Argentina in 1929 and 1937, and Uruguay in 1935, exhibiting a wide dominance of the teams from the Rio de la Plata: in the first 14 editions of the tournament, there were 7 titles for Uruguay and five for Argentina.

 

-Last CONMEBOL Members and New Champions (1939-1967) –

In 1939, Ecuador joined the tournament, and there was a new champion: Peru, which was hosting for the third time in its history, became the fourth team to lift the CONMEBOL Copa América™ trophy.

In 1941, the champion was Argentina, and in 1942, Uruguay. The 1945 edition added Colombia to the tournament. Additionally, it marked the first of Argentina’s three consecutive titles (1946 and 1947 being the others). It is the only three-time championship in the history of the tournament.

Brazil ended a 27-year title drought in 1949 by defeating Paraguay in the final, and in the following edition in 1953, history was reversed: Paraguay’s victory over Brazil resulted in its first title in history. Between 1955 and 1967, there were seven editions with the return of Rio de la Plata dominance: three titles for Argentina, three for Uruguay, with the curiosity that in 1959, two trophies were awarded, and each of the top winners of the tournament received one title. Additionally, that 1967 tournament marked the first participation of Venezuela, the last CONMEBOL team to join. The tournament that neither Argentina nor Uruguay won? It was the 1963 edition that brought Bolivia‘s first and only title in its history.

-Definitive Name and Arrival of Concacaf (1975-1993) –

In 1975, the name was changed from the South American Championship to the CONMEBOL Copa América™. Peru would retain that trophy, and Paraguay would lift the following one in 1979. These were the second titles for both and, so far, the last in their history.

Uruguay achieved a back-to-back championship (1983-1987) before Brazil managed to end its longest title drought in history: with its title in 1989, the 40-year dry spell without lifting the CONMEBOL Copa América™ trophy ended.

Argentina’s back-to-back championship (1991-1993) was marked by the arrival of invited teams to the tournament: in the 1993 edition, the United States and Mexico participated, with ‘El Tri’ reaching the tournament final. Additionally, in that edition, the tournament’s final definition was definitively established, as it had previously alternated between a group stage (most editions) and a final.

-World Expansion (1995-Present) –

Uruguay’s title in 1995 was the prelude to Brazilian dominance in the following decade: between 1997 and 2007, Brazil won four (97, 99, 04, and 07) out of the five CONMEBOL Copa América™ tournaments held; the only exception was in 2001, when Colombia took advantage of its home ground and achieved its only continental trophy in history. Argentina did not participate in that edition.

Additionally, in 1999, it was the first time that a team from another continent participated in the tournament: Japan was invited on that occasion and repeated in 2019, that time along with Qatar.

In 2011, Uruguay ended a 16-year title drought, marking the last coronation of one of the tournament’s top winners.

In 2015, Chile won its first title, and in 2016, it achieved a back-to-back championship. That edition, held in the United States, marked the first time that a country outside of CONMEBOL hosted the tournament and had the highest number of participants: 16 teams, with six Concacaf invitees.

The 2019 edition would once again have Brazil as the champion, and the last one held in 2021 would end Argentina’s longest title drought: 28 years had passed since the 1993 title for Albiceleste to celebrate again. The 48th edition of the tournament, which will begin on June 20, will have 16 teams vying to inscribe themselves in the rich history of the CONMEBOL Copa América™.