Nicosia (AFP)
The popularity of football rose in South America at the beginning of the twentieth century, after the influx of immigrants of British origin, and before that the first match was organized in 1867 in Argentina, where the first team was founded in 1887 under the name Gimnasia y Asgrima de la Plata.
Argentina organized an international competition in 1910 on the occasion of the anniversary of the May Revolution, in which Chile and Uruguay participated and Brazil withdrew from it, but it was not considered an official competition for the South American Federation, which was founded in 1916.
In 1916, Argentina hosted, this time on the occasion of the centenary of its independence, what is known as the first edition of Copa America under the name of the South American Football Cup, with the participation of four teams that also included Brazil, Chile and Uruguay, which won the title at the expense of the host country.
The first match held in the history of the tournament brought together the teams of Uruguay and Chile on July 2, 1916, and ended with a 4-0 victory for Uruguay in Buenos Aires.
During the first edition, the four participating countries met and established the South American Confederation “Conmebol”, which currently includes 10 members: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.
Initially, the Copa America Championship was scheduled to be held annually, so the second edition was held the following year in Uruguay, which retained its title at the expense of Argentina, with the participation of the four founding countries.
Due to the outbreak of influenza in Rio de Janeiro in 1918, Brazil hosted the third edition in 1919, needing a playoff match that ended in an extra time (1-0) to knock Uruguay down from its summit.
The fourth of the founders, Chile, hosted the 1920 edition, and smiled at Uruguay at the expense of Argentina.
Paraguay participated for the first time in the competition in 1921 after joining the Continental Confederation, and Argentina was crowned host for the first time.
Uruguay and Argentina took turns controlling the competition, with the former winning titles in 1923, 1924, 1926, 1935, and 1942, and the latter winning titles in 1925, 1927, 1929, 1937, 1941, 1945, 1946, and 1947.
But after the first edition of the World Cup in 1930, in which Uruguay won at the expense of Argentina 4-2, the hostility between the two countries contributed to the postponement of the competition for several years.
In 1935, the thirteenth edition was held in Peru, which served as a qualification for the Berlin Olympic Games, and Uruguay won its seventh title.
In 1939, Peru broke through to the senior club, winning its first title on home soil, when Ecuador participated in the finals for the first time and finished last, after Brazil and Argentina withdrew.
On the 440th anniversary of the founding of the city of Santiago, Chile hosted the 1941 edition. The “Nacional” stadium was expanded to host 70,000 spectators instead of 30,000. Despite its great ambition, Chile finished third after losing in the last match in the group to the champion Argentina 0-1.
The tournament went through a turbulent period, as it was not organized at fixed times, and several versions of it were considered unofficial, before the Continental Confederation recognized them later.
Exceptionally, in 1959, two tournaments were held, the first in Argentina, which won the title, and the second in Ecuador, where Uruguay then won the title.
During that period, some teams did not participate and did not pay attention to the tournament, while others sent their reserve teams. In the 1959 edition, which Uruguay won in Ecuador, Brazil sent a team from the state of Pernambuco and finished third.
The establishment of the Copa Libertadores Club Championship in 1959 had an impact on the competition, so it stopped between 1967 and 1975 when it officially acquired the name “Copa America,” and Peru won the championship in several host countries.
The competition was held once every four years with a similar system until 1987, when Uruguay was crowned champion in Argentina, which hosted it for the first time after an absence of 28 years, despite the participation of the 1986 world champions, led by the legend Diego Maradona.
In 1986, the Continental Confederation decided to restore the old system by having one country host the finals every two years among the ten members under its banner. Thus, between 1987 and 2001, the tournament was held alternately on the territory of the ten countries that make up CONMEBOL.
A period that witnessed a Brazilian awakening with the coronation of the “Seleção” in 1989, when it won its first major title on home soil after winning the 1970 World Cup.
On the other hand, Argentina, led by top scorer Gabriel Batistuta, won the 1991 title in Chile after a wait of 21 years.
In Ecuador 1993, two CONCACAF teams were invited: the United States and Mexico, and the latter finished runner-up to Argentina (2-1).
Uruguay regained its brilliance when it won its fourteenth title at home in 1995 at the expense of Brazil on penalties.
Between 1997 and 2007, Brazil experienced a golden phase. It won four times in 1997 at the heights of Bolivia, 1999 against Uruguay, when Argentine Martin Palermo missed 3 penalty kicks against Colombia in the first round (0-3), then “Uriverde” defeated Argentina in the 2004 and 2007 finals.
Only Colombia succeeded in breaking Brazil’s dominance when it won the 2001 title on home soil for the first time in its history, beating Mexico 1-0. Honduras pulled off a major surprise by eliminating Brazil in the quarter-finals 2-0.
In 2011, the host Argentina was eliminated by Uruguay on penalties in the quarter-finals, similar to Brazil’s defeat to Paraguay, so the field was empty for Uruguay, which won its fifteenth title by defeating Paraguay 3-0.
In the 2015 edition, Chile deserved its first title on home soil, after defeating Uruguay, Peru and Argentina in the qualifying rounds.
The Chileans repeated the same scenario in the 2016 edition, against Argentina in particular, to win the centenary edition.
As for the 2019 edition, in which Qatar and Japan participated as guests, it was Brazil’s time to end a 12-year drought on major titles, by being crowned at home against Peru 3-1.
Lionel Messi broke his jinx with the Argentina national team and won the 2021 title at the expense of host Brazil and his former Barcelona teammate Neymar 1-0 at the famous Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, winning his first major title with his country, before being crowned the 2022 World Cup in Qatar the following year.
Messi was competing in the fourth final of the Copa America, after losing in 2007, 2015 and 2016. The “Mosquito” also lost the 2014 World Cup final in Brazil to Germany.
Thanks to Angel Di Maria’s goal in the final, Argentina won its first title in the continental championship since 1993, and equaled Uruguay’s record of 15 titles, compared to nine for Brazil.
In 47 editions so far since 1916, eight teams have won the title, with the exception of Ecuador and Venezuela.
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