The 2015 Copa América was the 44th edition of the

Copa América The CONMEBOL Copa América (; known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship), often simply called the Copa America, is the top men's quadrennial association football, football tournament contested among list of men's national ass ...

, the main international

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

tournament for national teams in South America, and took place in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

between 11 June and 4 July 2015. The competition was organized by

CONMEBOL CONMEBOL ( ) or CSF (; ; ), is the continental governing body of football in South America and it is one of FIFA's six continental confederations. The oldest continental confederation in the world, its headquarters are located in Luque, Parag ...

, South America's football governing body. Twelve teams competed: the ten members of CONMEBOL and two guests from

CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typeset for branding purposes since 2018 as Concacaf), is one of FIFA's six continental governing bodies for association football. Its 4 ...

–

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

, the latter of which competed in the Copa América for the first time.

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

were the defending champions, but were eliminated by the host nation

in the quarter-finals. Chile won their first title, defeating

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

on penalties after a goalless draw. As winners, they qualified for the

2017 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup was the tenth and final edition of the FIFA Confederations Cup, a quadrennial international men's Association football, football tournament organised by FIFA. It was held in Russia, from 17 June to 2 July 2017, ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Host country

Originally, it was to be hosted by

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, as suggested by the

Brazilian Football Confederation The Brazilian Football Confederation (, CBF) is the governing body of football in Brazil. It was founded on Monday, 8 June 1914, as , and renamed Confederação Brasileira de Desportos in 1916. The football confederation, as known today, sepa ...

(CBF) in February 2011 due to CONMEBOL's rotation policy of tournaments being held in alphabetical order. However, due to the organization of the

2013 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup was the ninth FIFA Confederations Cup, which was held in Brazil from 15 to 30 June 2013 as a prelude to the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The most recent winners of the six continental championships appeared in the tourn ...

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil fr ...

and the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

in that country, Brazil decided against also hosting the Copa América. CONMEBOL's president

Nicolas Leoz Nicolas or Nicolás may refer to: People Given name * Nicolas (given name) Mononym * Nicolas (footballer, born 1999), Brazilian footballer * Nicolas (footballer, born 2000), Brazilian footballer Surname Nicolas * Dafydd Nicolas (c.1705–1774), ...

had mentioned the possibility of the tournament being organized in

(despite this country not being a member of CONMEBOL) as part of the federation's centenary celebrations. Brazil and Chile's Football Federations discussed the idea of swapping around the order of being hosts of the 2015 and 2019 tournaments. The swap was made official in May 2012.

Venues

There were nine different stadiums in eight cities used for the tournament. Most stadiums were renovated or rebuilt for the contest.

Teams

and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

were initially invited to join the 10 CONMEBOL nations in the tournament. Japan declined the invitation, and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

was invited instead, but later withdrew due to the Asian sector of qualification for the 2018 World Cup being held at the same time. In May 2014, it was announced that the

Jamaica Football Federation The Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) is the governing body of football in Jamaica and is in charge of the Jamaica national football team and the Jamaican football league system, including the Jamaica Premier League. History Early history ( ...

had accepted an invitation to participate, thus making Jamaica the first Caribbean nation to compete in Copa América.

Draw

The draw of the tournament was originally to be held on 27 October 2014 in

Viña del Mar Viña del Mar (; meaning "Vineyard of the Sea") is a List of cities in Chile, city and Communes of Chile, commune on Zona Central, Chile, central Chile's Pacific coast. Often referred to as ("The Garden City"), Viña del Mar is located withi ...

, but was postponed to 24 November. The 12 teams were drawn into three groups of four. CONMEBOL announced the composition of the four pots on 10 November 2014. Pot 1 contained the hosts Chile (which has been automatically assigned to position A1), together with Argentina and Brazil. The remaining nine teams were allocated to the other three pots according to their

FIFA World Rankings The FIFA Men's World Ranking is a ranking system for men's national teams in association football, first introduced in December 1992. The men's teams of the member nations of FIFA, football's world governing body, are ranked based on their gam ...

as of 23 October 2014 (shown in brackets), even though Colombia was rated higher than Brazil. On 23 November 2014, it was announced by CONMEBOL that Argentina and Brazil had been assigned to positions B1 and C1, respectively.

Squads

Each country had a final squad of 23 players (three of whom had to be goalkeepers) which had to be submitted before the deadline of 1 June 2015. The

2015 UEFA Champions League Final The 2015 UEFA Champions League final was the final match of the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League, the 60th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 23rd season since it was renamed from the European Champion ...

date of 6 June caused problems for South American players for

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

and

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

. FIFA international rules require clubs to release players 14 days prior to the start of an international tournament, but the players featured in the final, leaving them at most five days to acclimate. For example,

Arturo Vidal Arturo Erasmo Vidal Pardo (; born 22 May 1987) is a Chilean professional Association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for Chilean Primera División club Colo-Colo and the Chile national football team, Chile national team. His displ ...

arrived two days before Chile's first match against Ecuador, and played with little training with his national team. Mexico manager

Miguel Herrera Miguel Ernesto Herrera Aguirre (born 18 March 1968), popularly referred to by his nickname "Piojo" (Spanish for "louse"), is a Mexican professional football manager and former player. He is the current manager of the Costa Rica national te ...

decided to prioritize the upcoming

2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 13th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup competition and the 23rd CONCACAF regional championship overall in the organization's fifty-four years of existence. It was held in the United States, with two matches bei ...

, saying, "We have to win at all costs in order to face the United States in the playoffs that guarantee a spot in the 2017 Confederations Cup." The Mexican squad was a team composed mostly from the local league with little international experience. Uruguayan forward

Luis Suárez Luis Alberto Suárez Díaz (; born 24 January 1987) is a Uruguayan professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for Major League Soccer club Inter Miami CF, Inter Miami. Known for his go ...

was suspended for the whole tournament, as he served a nine-match ban in international football for

biting Biting is an action involving a set of teeth closing down on an object. It is a common zoological behavior, being found in toothed animals such as mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, and arthropods. Biting is also an action humans participate ...

Italian defender

Giorgio Chiellini Giorgio Chiellini (; born 14 August 1984) is an Italian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football)#Centre-back, centre-back or Defender (association football)#Full-back, left-back. Consi ...

during Uruguay's final group stage match against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

in the

Match officials

''Source'':

Group stage

The fixture schedule was announced on 11 November 2014. The first round, or group stage, saw the twelve teams divided into three groups of four teams. Each group was a round-robin of six games, where each team played one match against each of the other teams in the same group. Teams were awarded three points for a win, one point for a draw and none for a defeat. The teams finishing first, second and two best-placed third teams in each group qualified for the quarter-finals. ;Tie-breaking criteria Teams were ranked on the following criteria: #Greater number of points in all group matches #Goal difference in all group matches #Greater number of goals scored in all group matches #Head-to-head result (between two teams only) #Penalty shoot-out (if both teams are playing the last match of the group stage) #Drawing of lots by the CONMEBOL Organizing Committee All times local, CLT ( UTC−3).

Group A

---- ----

Group B

---- ----

Group C

---- ----

Ranking of third placed teams

Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, the eight teams played a

single-elimination tournament A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, ...

, with the following rules: *In the quarter-finals, teams from the same group could not play each other. *In the quarter-finals, semi-finals, and third place playoff, if tied after 90 minutes, a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

was used to determine the winner (no

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

was played). *In the final, if tied after 90 minutes, 30 minutes of

were played. If still tied after extra time, a

was used to determine the winner.

Bracket

Quarter-finals

---- ---- ----

Semi-finals

----

Third place playoff

Final

Statistics

Goalscorers

Chile's Eduardo Vargas and Peru's Paolo Guerrero scored the most goals, with 4 each.

Assists

3 assistsCopa América statistics: assists
/ref> *

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi (; born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Major League Soccer ...

Jorge Valdivia Jorge Luis Valdivia Toro (, born 19 October 1983) is a Chilean national and former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Product of Colo-Colo youth ranks, Valdivia had an impressing loan spell at Universidad de Concep ...

2 assists * Ángel Di María * Dani Alves *

Adrián Aldrete Adrián Alexei Aldrete Rodríguez (born 14 June 1988) is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as a left-back. Club career Morelia Born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Aldrete began his football career with Monarcas Morelia as a defen ...

Winners

Awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament. * Golden Ball Award: This was the first time of Copa America's history "Golden Ball Award" cancelled.

rejected it but

's staff was to receive the award. * Golden Boot Award: Eduardo Vargas and

Paolo Guerrero José Paolo Guerrero González (; born 1 January 1984) is a Peruvian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker for Peruvian Primera División club Club Alianza Lima, Alianza Li ...

(4 goals each) * Best Young Player Award: Jeison Murillo * Golden Glove Award: Claudio Bravo * Fair Play Award:

Final Man of the Match Award

Team of the Tournament

Marketing

Sponsorship

Banco Santander Banco Santander S.A. trading as Santander Group ( , , ), is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Santander, with operative offices in Madrid. Additionally, Santander maintains a presence in most global financial centres ...

* MasterCard *

Kia Motors Kia Corporation (, formerly known as Kyungsung Precision Industry (京城精密工業) and Kia Motors Corporation) is a South Korean multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Seoul, ...

* America Móvil (

Claro Americas The Claro Company, or simply Claro, is a Brazilian-founded Latin American telecommunications company, part of América Móvil, a Mexican telecom group. Claro serves customers in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republ ...

and

Telcel RADIOMÓVIL DIPSA, S.A. DE C.V., doing business as Telcel, is a Mexican wireless telecommunications company, owned by América Móvil, founded in 1984 and based in Mexico City. Telcel holds concessions to operate a wireless network in all nine g ...

) *

The Coca-Cola Company The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational corporation founded in 1892. It manufactures, sells and markets soft drinks including Coca-Cola, other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, and alcoholic beverages. Its stock is lis ...

Kellogg's Kellanova, formerly known as the Kellogg Company and commonly known as Kellogg's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational food manufacturing company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, US. Kellanova produces and markets con ...

(

Pringles Pringles is an American brand of stackable potato-based chips invented by Procter & Gamble (P&G) in 1968 and marketed as "Pringle's Newfangled Potato Chips". It is technically considered an Extruded food, extruded snack because of the manufac ...

) *

DHL DHL (originally named after founders Dalsey, Hillblom and Lynn) is a multinational Import-Export Expert Company, founded in the United States and headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It provides courier, package delivery, and express mail service, ...

LAN Lan or LAN may refer to: Science and technology * Local asymptotic normality, a fundamental property of regular models in statistics * Longitude of the ascending node, one of the orbital elements used to specify the orbit of an object in space * ...

- TAM *

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

Airbnb Airbnb, Inc. ( , an abbreviation of its original name, "Air Bed and Breakfast") is an American company operating an online marketplace for short-and-long-term homestays, experiences and services in various countries and regions. It acts as a ...

Opta Sports Opta Sports, formerly Opta Sportsdata and more commonly known as Opta, is a British sports analytics company. Opta provides data for more than 30 sports in over 70 countries, with clients ranging from leagues and federations to broadcasters and ...

Aggreko Aggreko is a global supplier of mobile and modular power, temperature control equipment and energy services, headquartered in Glasgow, Scotland. The business was founded in 1962 and previously listed on the London Stock Exchange from 1997 to 20 ...

* Arena sport TV

Logo and slogan

On 2 April 2014, the official logo was unveiled, along with the slogan "El Corazón del Fútbol" ("The Heart of Football").

Match ball

On 16 November 2014, the official match ball (OMB) was unveiled at the Estadio Nacional. The name of the ball is Nike Cachaña, which is a Chilean slang term for a successful feint or dribble. During its launch, the Chilean international

was present. The ball is mainly designed with white as main appearance featured with blue and red applications, representing host nation Chile. The colors of Chilean flag make a statement in the design of this ball: the red representing the people, the blue symbolizing the Chilean sky, and the white for the Andes that so strongly define the geography of this country.

Mascot

The official mascot of the tournament, a young

culpeo The culpeo (''Lycalopex culpaeus''), also known as Culpeo zorro, Andean zorro, Andean fox, Paramo wolf, Andean wolf,Comparative ecology of two South American foxes, 'Dusicvon ariseus' and 'Culpaeus' by Warren E. Johnson. Doctoral dissertation. Io ...

fox, was unveiled on 17 November 2014. The name of the mascot, "Zincha" (from ''Zorro'' (fox) and ''hINCHA'' (fan)), was chosen by the public over two other options, "Andi" and "Kul".

Official song

" Al Sur del Mundo" by Chilean group Noche de Brujas served as the official song of the tournament. It was performed during the opening ceremony of the competition on 11 June. It features the different cultures of the twelve competing nations.

Incidents and controversies

The day after Chile's 3–3 draw against Mexico in their second group match, Jorge Sampaoli gave the players a day off from training. They had to return to the training ground by 9pm, but

did not arrive. He had been involved in a traffic accident on his way back to the ground, and arrested for

driving under the influence Driving under the influence (DUI) is the crime of driving, operating, or being in control of a vehicle while one is impaired from doing so safely by the effect of either alcohol (drug), alcohol (see drunk driving) or some other drug, whether re ...

. He spent the night in jail, and appeared in court the morning after. His driving license was revoked, and he was sentenced to pay for the damage done. Although there was speculation that he would be dropped, Sampaoli opted to keep him on the team. An on-pitch brawl broke out following Colombia's 1–0 win over Brazil in their second group match; Brazilian captain

Neymar Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior (; born 5 February 1992), also known as Neymar Júnior or simply Neymar, is a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a left winger, attacking midfielder or Forward (association foo ...

deliberately kicked the ball at opponent

Pablo Armero Pablo Estífer Armero (born 2 November 1986) is a Colombian former professional association football, footballer who played as a left-back. He is known in Colombia by the nickname "Miñía", reportedly after a phrase commonly used to call infant ...

and attempted to headbutt Colombian matchwinner Jeison Murillo, earning a red card. As a result, Colombian forward Carlos Bacca retaliated by pushing Neymar over, and was himself sent off. CONMEBOL fined Neymar $10,000 and suspended him for four matches, ruling him out for the remainder of the tournament, while Bacca was suspended for two matches. In Chile's quarter-final victory over Uruguay, full-back Gonzalo Jara poked Uruguayan forward

Edinson Cavani Edinson Roberto Cavani Gómez (; born 14 February 1987) is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a striker for Argentine Primera División club Boca Juniors. Nicknamed "El Matador" (The Bullfighter), he is considered as one of the ...

in the anus, and then fell when Cavani slapped him in retaliation. Both Cavani and Jara received a yellow card for the incident, which resulted in Cavani being sent off because he had previously received another yellow card for insulting one of the referees' assistants. Jara was later suspended for two games, which made him miss the rest of the tournament. His club,

Mainz 05 1. Fußball- und Sport-Verein Mainz 05 e. V., usually shortened to 1. FSV Mainz 05 or simply Mainz 05 (), is a German professional sports club, founded in 1905 and based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Mainz 05 play in the Bundesliga, the top tie ...

of Germany, criticized Jara for the incident and stated that he would be sold. However he would remain with the club until 16 January 2016 when he agreed to terminate his contract with them.Gonzalo Jara leaves Mainz 05
/ref>

References

External links

* (Official website)
Copa América 2015
CONMEBOL.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Copa America 2014–15 in Chilean football 2015 in South American football

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

June 2015 sports events in South America July 2015 sports events in South America Football competitions in Santiago, Chile 2010s in Santiago, Chile Sport in Antofagasta Region La Serena, Chile Sport in Valparaíso Region Rancagua Concepción, Chile Temuco