The South American Championship 1959 was a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

tournament held in Argentina, and won by Argentina with Brazil as runner-up.

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

and Ecuador withdrew from the tournament.

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; born 23 October 1940), known as Pelé (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and labelled "the greatest" by FIFA, ...

from Brazil was named best player of the tournament and was the top scorer with 8 goals.

Venues

Squads

Final round

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Result

Goalscorers

With eight goals, Pelé of Brazil is the top scorer in the tournament. In total, 86 goals were scored by 36 different players, with only one of them credited as own goal. ;8 goals *

;6 goals * José Aveiro ;5 goals *

Paulo Valentim Paulo Angelo Valentim (November 20, 1933 – July 9, 1984) was a Brazilian football striker. He played for clubs in Brazil, Argentina and Mexico. Biography Valentim came through the youth team of Guarani de Volta Redonda to make his fir ...

* Miguel Angel Loayza ;4 goals * Rubén Héctor Sosa ;3 goals * Juan José Pizzuti *

Oreste Corbatta Oreste Omar Corbatta Fernández (11 March 1936 – 5 December 1991) was an Argentine footballer who played as right winger. Corbatta is regarded as the greatest idol in the history of Racing Club. Dubbed '' Arlequín''Raúl Belén * Didi * Cayetano Ré *

Héctor Demarco Héctor Demarco (31 May 1936 – 21 June 2010) was a Uruguayan footballer. He played in 14 matches for the Uruguay national football team from 1955 to 1959. He was also part of Uruguay's squad for the 1956 South American Championship So ...

* José Sasía * Vladas Douksas ;2 goals * Pedro Eugenio Callá * Pedro Waldemar Manfredini * Máximo Alcócer * Juan Soto Mura * Leonel Sánchez * Mario Soto *

Silvio Parodi Silvio Parodi (Genoa, 16 February 1878 – Savignone, 19 June 1944) was an Italian Fascist politician and soldier. Biography Born into a middle-class family, he attended the Military Academy of Modena and graduated as a infantry second lie ...

* Juan Joya * Juan Seminario * Carlos Borges * Guillermo Escalada ;1 goal *

Vladislao Cap Vladislao Wenceslao Cap (5 July 1934 – 14 September 1982) was an Argentine football player and manager. As a player he represented his native country at the 1962 FIFA World Cup in Chile as a defender. Twelve years later he was the manager of ...

* Ausberto García * Ricardo Alcón * Chinesinho *

Luis Hernán Álvarez Luis Hernán Álvarez Hernández (21 May 1938 – 23 January 1991) was a Chilean footballer who played in clubs in Chile and El Salvador. Teams * Colo-Colo 1958-1965 * Magallanes 1966 * Alianza 1967 * Green Cross Temuco 1968 * Antofagasta P ...

Mario Moreno Mario Fortino Alfonso Moreno Reyes (12 August 1911 – 20 April 1993), known by the stage name Cantinflas (), was a Mexican comedian, actor, and filmmaker. He is considered to have been the most widely-accomplished Mexican comedian and is ce ...

* Tovar * Ildefonso Sanabria * Óscar Gómez Sánchez * Domingo Pérez *

Víctor Guaglianone Víctor Guaglianone (born 24 September 1936) is a Uruguayan former association football, footballer. He played in eight matches for the Uruguay national football team, Uruguay national team from 1959 to 1960. He was also part of Uruguay's squad ...

;Own goal * Víctor Benítez (playing against Argentina)

Controversy

Originally, the 1959 Copa America was scheduled to be hosted by Ecuador. However, due to financial difficulties and infrastructure challenges, Ecuador withdrew as the host nation just a few months before the tournament was set to begin. This sudden withdrawal left

CONMEBOL The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL, , or CSF; es, Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol; pt, Confederação Sul-Americana de Futebol) is the continental governing body of football in South America (apart from Guyana, Suri ...

in a difficult situation to find a replacement host at such short notice. In response to Ecuador's withdrawal, Argentina volunteered to step in as the new host for the tournament. The Argentine Football Association (AFA) had the necessary resources and infrastructure to organize the event. Consequently, Argentina was granted the hosting rights, and the tournament was scheduled to take place in Buenos Aires. However, a disagreement arose among some South American nations regarding the legitimacy of Argentina being granted the hosting rights without a proper bidding process. A group of countries, including Brazil, Uruguay, and Chile, refused to participate in the tournament hosted by Argentina and organized their own competition called the "Copa del Atlántico", in response. Meanwhile, Argentina went ahead with its plans and organized the Copa America as scheduled, inviting other CONMEBOL member nations to participate. The tournament took place from March 7 to April 4, 1959, and was won by Argentina. After the initial Copa America tournament held in Argentina from March to April 1959, there was indeed a second Copa America held in Ecuador later that year. The second tournament took place in Guayaquil and Quito, Ecuador, from December 5 to 25, 1959. The decision to hold a second Copa America in Ecuador was made to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Eloy Alfaro, a prominent Ecuadorian political figure. The tournament was officially named the "Copa del Centenario de la Batalla de Quito" (Centenary Cup of the Battle of Quito) to honor this occasion. Uruguay emerged as champions, securing their 10th title in the tournament's history.

Team of the Tournament

References

External links

South American Championship 1959 at RSSSF
{{Copa América 1959, Argentina Championship (Argentina), 1959

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

Football in Buenos Aires 1959 in Argentine football March 1959 sports events in South America April 1959 sports events in South America Sports competitions in Buenos Aires 1950s in Buenos Aires