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 Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

and French Guiana) and it is one of

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

's six continental confederations. The oldest continental confederation in the world, its headquarters are located in Luque, Paraguay, near Asunción. CONMEBOL is responsible for the organization and governance of South American football's major international tournaments. With 10 member soccer associations, it has the fewest members of all the confederations in FIFA. CONMEBOL national teams have won ten FIFA World Cups (Brazil five, Argentina three and Uruguay two) and CONMEBOL clubs have won 22 Intercontinental Cups and four

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The competition was first contested in 200 ...

s. Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay have won two Olympic gold medals each. It is considered one of the strongest confederations in the world. The

World Cup qualifiers The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

of CONMEBOL have been described as the "toughest qualifiers in the world" for their simple round-robin system, entry of some of the top national teams in the world, leveling of the weaker national teams, climate conditions, geographic conditions, strong home stands and passionate supporters. Juan Ángel Napout (Paraguay) was the president of CONMEBOL until 3 December 2015 when he was arrested in a raid in Switzerland as part of the U.S. Justice Department's bribery case involving FIFA. Wilmar Valdez (Uruguay) was interim president until 26 January 2016 when Alejandro Domínguez (Paraguay) was elected president. The Vice presidents are Ramón Jesurum (Colombia), Laureano González (Venezuela) and Arturo Salah (Chile).

History

In 1916, the

first edition The bibliographical definition of an edition includes all copies of a book printed from substantially the same setting of type, including all minor typographical variants. First edition According to the definition of ''edition'' above, a b ...

of the "Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol" (South-American Football Championship), now known as the "

Copa América The Copa América ( en, America Cup) or CONMEBOL Copa América, known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship (''Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol'' in Spanish and ''Campeonato Sul-Americano de Futebol'' in Portuguese), is the t ...

", was contested in Argentina to commemorate the centenary of the Argentine Declaration of Independence. The four participating associations of that tournament gathered together in Buenos Aires in order to officially create a governing body to facilitate the organization of the tournament. Thus, CONMEBOL was founded on 9 July 1916 under the initiative of Uruguayan

Héctor Rivadavia Gómez Héctor Rivadavia Gomez ( Dolores, Uruguay, 1880 – Montevideo, 1931) was a journalist, politician, and football director of the Uruguayan Football Association. He was the creator and first president of the CONMEBOL (and then honorary preside ...

, but approved by the football associations of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay. The first Constitutional Congress on 15 December of that same year, which took place in

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

, ratified the decision. Over the years, with the last being Venezuela in 1952.

and the French

overseas department The overseas departments and regions of France (french: départements et régions d'outre-mer, ; ''DROM'') are departments of France that are outside metropolitan France, the European part of France. They have exactly the same status as mainlan ...

of French Guiana, while geographically in South America, are not part of CONMEBOL. Consisting of a former British territory, a former Dutch territory and a French territory, they are part of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF), mainly due to historical, cultural and sporting reasons. With ten member nations, CONMEBOL is the smallest and the only fully continental land-based FIFA confederation (no insular countries or associates from different continents).

Leadership

Executive committee

Past presidents

;Notes

Members

CONMEBOL orthographic projection Mapa CONMEBOL

There are sovereign states or dependencies in South America which are not affiliated with CONMEBOL but are members of other confederations or do not have affiliation with any other confederations at all. *

( CONCACAF) *

( CONCACAF) * French Guiana ( CONCACAF) * Falkland Islands *

Competitions

CONMEBOL competitions

National teams: *

* CONMEBOL Men Pre-Olympic Tournament * South American Under-20 Football Championship * South American Under-17 Football Championship *

South American Under-15 Football Championship The South American U-15 Championship, also known as the Campeonato Sudamericano Sub15, is a South American association football competition held every two years contested by male players under the age of 15 and is organized by CONMEBOL, the govern ...

* Copa América Femenina * South American Under-20 Women's Football Championship * South American Under-17 Women's Football Championship * Copa América de Futsal * FIFA Futsal World Cup qualifiers * South American Futsal League * South American Under-20 Futsal Championship * South American Under-17 Futsal Championship * Copa América Femenina de Futsal * South American Under-20 Women's Futsal Championship *

Copa América de Beach Soccer The Copa América of Beach Soccer (named natively in Spanish language, Spanish as the ''Copa América de Fútbol Playa'') is a wikt:Special:Search/biennial, biennial international beach soccer tournament contested between the senior men's national ...

* FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualifiers * South American Beach Soccer League * South American Under-20 Beach Soccer Championship *

Superclásico de las Américas The Superclassic of the Americas ( pt, Superclássico das Américas, es, Superclásico de las Américas), is an annual friendly football match between the national teams of Argentina and Brazil. Established in 2011 and organized by CONMEBOL, ...

Clubs: *

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, named as ''Copa Sudamericana'' (; pt, Copa Sul-Americana ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club competition in South American ...

Recopa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Recopa Sudamericana ( pt, CONMEBOL Recopa Sul-Americana), known also as the Recopa Sudamericana or CONMEBOL Recopa, and simply as the Recopa (, ; "Winners' Cup"), is an annual international club association football, football compe ...

* Copa Libertadores Femenina * Copa Libertadores de Futsal *

Copa Libertadores de Beach Soccer The CONMEBOL Libertadores Fútbol Playa is an annual continental beach soccer club competition, organized by the governing body for football in South America, CONMEBOL, founded in 2016. Since 2017, the tournament is contested between the top-level ...

* U-20 Copa Libertadores Defunct * Supercopa Libertadores * Copa CONMEBOL * South American Championship of Champions * Copa Ganadores de Copa *

Copa de Oro The Copa de Oro (English: ''Gold Cup'', Portuguese: ''Copa Ouro''), or Copa de Oro Nicolás Leoz, was a football cup winners' cup competition contested on 3 occasions by the most recent winners of all CONMEBOL continental competitions. These inclu ...

* Copa Mercosur * Copa Merconorte *

Copa Master de Supercopa The Copa Master de Supercopa was a football competition contested by clubs that had previously won the Supercopa Libertadores. It was organized by CONMEBOL and only played in 1992 and 1995. A third edition was scheduled to be played in 1998 but th ...

* Copa Master de CONMEBOL Inter Continental: *

CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions The CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions, previously known officially as the European/South American Nations Cup and commonly as the Artemio Franchi Cup, is an official intercontinental football match organised by CONMEBOL and UEFA and contested by ...

* Women's Finalissima * Futsal Finalissima * Under-20 Intercontinental Cup Defunct * J.League Cup / Copa Sudamericana Championship * Intercontinental Champions' Supercup * Copa Interamericana * Copa Iberoamericana * Intercontinental Cup

International

The main competition for men's national teams is the

, which started in 1916. The Copa America is the only continental competition in which teams from a totally different continent and confederation can be invited to participate. CONMEBOL usually selects and invites a couple of teams from the AFC or CONCACAF to participate in the Copa America. Japan and Qatar were invited to participate in the 2019 edition of the Copa America. CONMEBOL also runs national competitions at

Under-20 Junior is a category of athletics in which athletes compete under the age of 20 years. Countries all around the world compete in athletics. World Junior Athletics Competitions are held every two years which contain the best junior competitors in ...

, Under-17 and Under-15 levels. For women's national teams, CONMEBOL operates the Copa América Femenina for senior national sides, as well as

and Under-17 championships. In futsal, there is the Copa América de Futsal and Campeonato Sudamericano de Futsal Sub-20. The Campeonato Sudamericano Femenino de Futsal is the women's equivalent to the men's tournament.

Club

CONMEBOL also runs the two main club competitions in South America: the

was first held in 1960 and the

was launched by CONMEBOL in 2002 as an indirect successor to the Supercopa Libertadores (begun in 1988). A third competition, the Copa CONMEBOL, started in 1992 and was abolished in 1999. In women's football, CONMEBOL also conducts the Copa Libertadores Femenina for club teams. The competition was first held in 2009. The

is an annual match between the past year's winners of the Copa Libertadores and the winners of the Copa Sudamericana (previously the winners of the Supercopa Libertadores) and came into being in 1989. The Intercontinental Cup was jointly organized with UEFA between the Copa Libertadores and the UEFA Champions League winners.

Current title holders

FIFA World Rankings

Overview

Historical leaders

;Men's

ImageSize = width:150 height:700 PlotArea = left:40 right:0 bottom:5 top:10 DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:08/08/1993 till:24/10/2019 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:1994 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical format:yyyy Colors = id:ARG value:skyblue id:COL value:orange id:BRA value:yellow id:URU value:blue PlotData= bar:Leaders width:25 mark:(line,black) align:left fontsize:S from:08/08/1993 till:23/09/1993 shift:(20,-5) text:" Argentina" color:ARG from:23/09/1993 till:21/11/2001 shift:(20,-3) text:" Brazil" color:BRA from:21/11/2001 till:17/04/2002 shift:(20,-5) text:" Argentina" color:ARG from:17/04/2002 till:14/03/2007 shift:(20,-3) text:" Brazil" color:BRA from:14/03/2007 till:16/05/2007 shift:(20,-5) text:" Argentina" color:ARG from:16/05/2007 till:19/09/2007 shift:(20,-3) text:" Brazil" color:BRA from:19/09/2007 till:02/07/2008 shift:(20,-5) text:" Argentina" color:ARG from:02/07/2008 till:09/03/2011 shift:(20,-3) text:" Brazil" color:BRA from:09/03/2011 till:13/04/2011 shift:(20,-5) text:" Argentina" color:ARG from:13/04/2011 till:24/08/2011 shift:(20,-3) text:" Brazil" color:BRA from:24/08/2011 till:03/09/2012 shift:(20,-6) text:" Uruguay" color:URU from:03/09/2012 till:04/07/2013 shift:(20,-5) text:" Argentina" color:ARG from:04/07/2013 till:12/09/2013 shift:(20,-5) text:"

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 ...

" color:COL from:12/09/2013 till:10/04/2014 shift:(20,-5) text:" Argentina" color:ARG from:10/04/2014 till:08/05/2014 shift:(20,-5) text:"

" color:COL from:08/05/2014 till:17/07/2014 shift:(20,-3) text:" Brazil" color:BRA from:17/07/2014 till:09/03/2017 shift:(20,-5) text:" Argentina" color:ARG from:09/03/2017 till:end shift:(20,-3) text:" Brazil" color:BRA

Team of the year

Other rankings

Clubs

Football Database rankings

Last updated: 9 January 2022

IFFHS

Last updated on: 12 March 2019 �

/small>

Beach soccer national teams

Men's update: 31 January 2022.

Major tournament records

;Legend * – Champion * – Runner-up * – Third placeThere was no Third Place match in 1930; The United States and Yugoslavia lost in the semi-finals. FIFA recognizes th
United States
as the third-placed team an

as the fourth-placed team using the overall records of the teams in th

* – Fourth place * QF – Quarter-finals (1934–1938, 1954–1970, and 1986–present: knockout round of 8) * R2 – Round 2 (1974–1978, second group stage, top 8; 1982: second group stage, top 12; 1986–2022: knockout round of 16) * R1 – Round 1 (1930, 1950–1970 and 1986–present: group stage; 1934–1938: knockout round of 16; 1974–1982: first group stage) * ''Q'' – Qualified for upcoming tournament * – Did not qualify * – Did not enter / Withdrew / Banned * – Hosts For each tournament, the flag of the host country and the number of teams in each finals tournament (in brackets) are shown.

FIFA World Cup

FIFA Women's World Cup

Olympic Games For Men

Olympic Games For Women

Copa América

Copa América Femenina

FIFA U-20 World Cup

FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup

FIFA U-17 World Cup

** Note 1: Original hosts Peru were stripped of the right to host the 2019 event in February 2019.

FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup

FIFA Futsal World Cup

FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

Former tournaments

FIFA Confederations Cup

Corruption

On 27 May 2015, several CONMEBOL leaders were arrested in Zürich, Switzerland by Swiss police and indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice on charges of corruption, money laundering, and racketeering. Those swept up in the operation include former CONMEBOL presidents

Eugenio Figueredo Eugenio Hermes Figueredo Aguerre (born 10 March 1932 in Santa Lucía, Uruguay) is a Uruguayan and American association football executive and former footballer. In May 2015, he was banned by FIFA Ethics Committee. Biography As a footballer, Fi ...

and Nicolás Léoz and several football federations presidents such as Carlos Chávez and Sergio Jadue. On 3 December 2015, the CONMEBOL President Juan Ángel Napout was also arrested.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Conmebol Sports organisations of Paraguay Sports organizations established in 1916 Central Department FIFA confederations 1916 establishments in South America