Héctor Rivadavia Gomez (

Dolores, Uruguay Dolores is a city in the Soriano Department of western Uruguay. Geography The city is located in the west part of the Soriano's department, on the left banks of San Salvador River, about before it discharges into the Uruguay River. It is almost ...

, 1880 –

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

, 1931) was a journalist, politician, and football director of the

Uruguayan Football Association The Uruguayan Football Association ( — ) is the governing body of association football, football in Uruguay. It was founded in 1900, as The Uruguayan Association Football League, and affiliated to FIFA in 1923. It is a founding member of CONMEB ...

. He was the creator and first president of the

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 ...

(and then honorary president). Rivadavia Gómez also encouraged the creation of the South American championships, currently known as "

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 ...

Biography

As a journalist, Rivadavia Gómez made a career as chief of section in '' El Día'' newspaper. He also directed ''El Telégrafo'' and founded other daily newspapers, ''

La Mañana ''la Mañana'' also known as ''la Manyana'' is a newspaper of the province of Lleida in Spain. The paper was founded in 1938. The headquarters is in Lleida. It publishes in both Catalan and Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or rel ...

'' and '' El Diario''. His political career started as deputy of Colorado Party representing

Canelones Department The Departamento de Canelones (; ) is one of the 19 Uruguayan departments. With an area of and 608,956 inhabitants at the 2023 Census, it is located in the south of Uruguay. Its capital is Canelones. Ciudad de la Costa is the largest city by ...

from 1908 to 1914. He also represented

from 1923 to 1926. Rivadavia Gómez also worked in the Uruguayan Government, being in charge of the National Post Office of Uruguay. He represented

(AUF), achieving Uruguay was elected as host of the first

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be on J ...

. He presided over the AUF (1907–12) and club

Montevideo Wanderers Montevideo Wanderers Fútbol Club, usually known simply as Wanderers, is a Uruguayan professional football club based in Montevideo. The club are currently members of the Primera División and play at the Estadio Viera. Beside football, the cl ...

(1915–19, 1923). Rivadavia Gómez was responsible for first proposing the idea of a

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

n football confederation, the origins of

. An old personal project of him, it became a distinct possibility during the first South American championship held in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

between July 2 and July 17, 1916, as part of the commemorations of Argentina's Independence centenary. On July 9, 1916, (the exact day of the 100th anniversary of Argentine Declaration of Independence), the football leaders of

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

met in

to study his idea, which was approved ad-referendum by each of the national associations.

References

External links

Conmebol Official Website
Presidents of CONMEBOL Association football executives 1880 births 1931 deaths People from Dolores, Uruguay Colorado Party (Uruguay) politicians {{Uruguay-footy-bio-stub