The Must Watch Uruguayan Players Who Could Play in the CONMEBOL Copa América™

• La Celeste is tied for the most championships in this tournament, with 15 titles.
• They debut on June 23 against Panama at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.

Uruguay arrives to the United States with the excitement of a new coach (Marcelo Bielsa), their strong current form in the World Cup qualifiers (currently second), and a squad full of players who shine worldwide. Among these names are:

 

Darwin Núñez

 

Darwin Gabriel Núñez Ribeiro was born on June 24, 1999, in Artigas and began his career at Peñarol. At just 20 years old, he made his debut for the Uruguayan national team.

A knee injury prevented the forward from playing in the 2021 CONMEBOL Copa América™, which would have been his first major tournament with La Celeste. In 2022, he played in the World Cup in Qatar, starting in all three matches.

In the current South American qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, Darwin has scored 5 goals and leads the scoring charts.

At the club level, after Peñarol, the forward made a name for himself at Almería before moving to Benfica, where he broke out in his second season: he was the top scorer in the Portuguese league (26 goals) and finished with a record of 34 goals in the 2021/22 season. This performance caught the attention of Liverpool, where he is now one of the team’s key players and has won two titles.

 

 

Federico Valverde

 

«El Pajarito» was born in Montevideo on July 22, 1998, and debuted for the national team at 19 years old. The midfielder quickly established himself in La Celeste, where he has already played in two editions of CONMEBOL Copa América™.

Valverde ended up as a starter for the national team that reached the quarterfinals of the 2019 CONMEBOL Copa América in Brazil, where Peru eliminated them on penalties. By the 2021 edition, he was a regular starter under Óscar Tabárez, who again reached the quarterfinals. He has accumulated nine matches in the world’s oldest national team tournament.

In 2022, Valverde played his first World Cup, starting in all three matches that Uruguay played.

At the club level, Valverde came through Peñarol and moved to Spain at a young age. He played for Real Madrid’s reserve team (RM Castilla) before going on loan to Deportivo La Coruña. On his return to the Madrid club in 2018, he joined the first team and has become one of the standout players for the Whites over these last six years. He has won more than 10 titles, including the Champions League and the Club World Cup.

 

 

Rodrigo Bentancur

 

Born in Colonia on June 25, 1997, Bentancur first became a South American U-20 champion with La Celeste and then started his journey with the senior national team at 20 years old, where he has played over 50 matches, eight of them in the CONMEBOL Copa América™, in the 2019 and 2021 editions.

A midfielder with excellent skills, Bentancur has also played in the last two FIFA World Cups for Uruguay. In 2018, he reached the tournament’s quarterfinals.

At the club level, Bentancur made his debut with Boca Juniors (Argentina), where he won three titles. From there, he moved to Europe to play for Juventus, winning 7 trophies over four and a half years. Since early 2022, he has been shining at Tottenham Hotspur (England).