Peru's first CONMEBOL Copa America™ title

The Peruvian national team became champions of the CONMEBOL Copa America™ for the first time in 1939.
The South American tournament took place in Lima and included the participation of Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.

Peru, hosting the tournament for the third time, became the fourth team to clinch the CONMEBOL Copa America™ title, following Uruguay, Brazil, and Argentina. The Peruvians won all their four matches during this edition, one more victory than their total combined wins in previous participations.

The Peruvians claimed the championship under the helm of English coach John Richard Greenwell, who had also coached Universitario de Peru. Interestingly, it was not Greenwell who selected the team for the tournament; instead, it was director José Rubio Rolando who made the call-ups.

Under the motto «Our Football Masters», the victorious Peruvian team handed over their gold medals to the Uruguayan side and took the silver medals.

Two players, Teodoro ‘Lolo’ Fernández, scoring seven goals, and Jorge Alcalde, contributing five, were responsible for twelve of Peru’s thirteen goals during the tournament.

This edition also marked the Ecuadorian team’s debut in the competition. At that time, they sported a red and blue shirt with vertical stripes, quite distinct from their current yellow kit.

Ramón Unamuno led the Ecuadorian team in their debut, serving both as coach and player. However, he only featured in the starting lineup for the first match, which ended in a 2-5 defeat against Peru. Curiously, both of Ecuador’s goals were scored by Marino Alcivar, who had substituted Unamuno during the game.

Both Brazil and Argentina were absent from the tournament. While the Brazilian team had been missing on previous occasions, this marked the first edition of the championship without the participation of Argentina.

– Peru’s path to the title –

– Peru 5-2 Ecuador –
PER: Teodoro Fernández (6′ and 77′), Jorge Alcalde (16′ and 58′), Pedro Ibáñez (34′)
EQU: Marino Alcivar (55′ and 89′)

– Peru 3-1 Chile –
PER: Teodoro Fernández (46′ (p), 65′ and 80′)
CHI: Alfonso Domínguez (75′)

– Peru 3-0 Paraguay –
PER: Teodoro Fernández (11′ and 30′), Jorge Alcalde (78′)

– Peru 2-1 Uruguay –
PER: Jorge Alcalde (7′ and 35′)
URU: Roberto Porta (44′)