Copa America – the world’s oldest international tournament
The Copa America is the top men’s football tournament contested among national teams from South America. It is the world’s oldest still-running continental football competition. The competition determines the champion of South America. Since the 1990s, teams from Asia and North America have also been invited to play.
The event was first held in 1916 in honour of the 100th anniversary of Argentina’s independence—with Uruguay winning the inaugural title.
It took place every one to four years before it adopted its current quadrennial format in 2007. The Copa América is governed by the Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (commonly known as CONMEBOL), and the tournament’s field consists of the 10 national teams that are members of CONMEBOL—Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela—plus two additional national teams that are invited to participate in the event.
Since 1993, Copa America has featured 12 teams (all 10 CONMEBOL teams) plus two guest nations (the USA and Canada being the two in this edition). Mexico participated in every tournament between 1993 and 2016, with one additional team drawn from CONCACAF, except for 1999, when AFC team Japan filled out the 12-team roster, and 2019, which featured Japan and Qatar.
Only in the 2016 edition, which was the Copa America Centenario (100th anniversary), 16 teams featured – six teams from CONCACAF in addition to the 10 from CONMEBOL.
Top three teams with most Copa America titles
| Team | Number of titles won | Years won |
| Argentina | 15 | 921 *, 1925 *, 1927, 1929 *, 1937 *, 1941, 1945, 1946 *, 1947, 1955, 1957, 1959 *, 1991, 1993, 2021 |
| Uruguay | 15 | 1916, 1917 *, 1920, 1923 *, 1924 *, 1926, 1935, 1942 *, 1956 *, 1959, 1967 *, 1983, 1987, 1995 *, 2011 |
| Brazil | 9 | 1919 *, 1922 *, 1949 *, 1989 *, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2007, 2019 * |
(*- host nation)