copa america

The history

     Uruguay champion of the America Cup 2011

Uruguay champion of the America Cup 1995

The Copa América is the oldest competition of soccer teams in the world. It was disputed for the first time in a trial edition in 1910, but it had its first official edition between July 2 and 17, 1916, as part of the commemorations of the centennial of Argentina's independence. In addition to the host country, Chile, Uruguay and Brazil also participated.

From its first edition until 1967 the tournament was called the South American Championship of Selections. In the first edition, Uruguay won the title of Champion, after a 0-0 draw against Argentina in the final played at the Racing Club de Avellaneda stadium.

As of 1975, in its 30th edition, the tournament was officially called Copa América. With the change of name there were also changes in the dispute system. The point-by-point system was replaced by a format similar to that of the FIFA World Cup: qualifying phase, with the selections distributed in groups, followed by qualifying rounds.

Guest selections

Beginning in 1993, CONMEBOL went on to invite teams from outside South America to participate in the Copa América. The first were the United States and Mexico. In 2016, the America Centennial Cup had exceptionally six invited teams: Costa Rica, the United States (host), Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico and Panama.

However, the invited teams never won a tournament edition. Mexico was the team that obtained the best results: runner-up in 1993 and 2001, and third place in 1997, 1999 and 2007.

TROFEO

Throughout its 45 editions, the Copa América had just two trophies. The oldest, called America's Cup, was made in 1916 and 1917 in Buenos Aires by Casa Escasany jewelry and watchmaking, at the request of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Argentina to be donated to CONMEBOL.

The trophy is made of silver and has transient possession. That is, there is no condition for it to remain definitive with a champion selection. His wooden base with the plates of the champions countries was added in 1979, in the edition won by Paraguay.

The second trophy was produced specifically for the Copa América Centenario, in 2016. Designed by Epico Studios, the cup was manufactured by the English Thomas Lyte in metal, with an internal silver finish and gold plated on the outside. The definitive possession remained with the champion Chile.

Curiosities

Participating countries until 2019: 18 countries

CONMEBOL (10) - Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Concacaf (7) - 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 (1) -Japan in 1999.

The 2019 Edition will have the participation of Qatar (AFC) for the first time, totaling 19 countries.

Greatest win: Argentina 12 to 0 Ecuador - (Uruguay, 1942).

Most goals in all editions: Argentina with 455 goals.

Most goals in a single edition: Brazil with 46 goals (Brazil, 1949).

Major gunners: Norberto Méndez (Argentina, in 3 editions) and Zizinho (Brazil, in 6 editions) -17 goals

Major gunners in a single edition: Jair da Rosa Pinto (Brazil, 1949), Humberto Maschio (Argentina, 1957) and Javier Ambrois (Uruguay, 1957) - 9 goals.

First champion: Uruguay (Argentina, 1916).

Country with the highest number of titles: Uruguay with 15 titles.