Uruguay are perennial champions of international football, performing regularly in tournaments despite a population of only around 3.5 million.
They won the first edition of the tournament and collected six of the first nine, making 15 in total, a record they share with Argentina.
Like Uruguay, Argentina They enjoyed most of their success before the tournament changed its name to the South American Football Championship in 1975, winning 12 of their 15 trophies before 1960. In 2021, however, they got their hands on the trophy again, inspired by Messi, who was seven years old. when Argentina had already won the competition in 1993.
Over the past three decades, Brazil have been the dominant team in South America, winning five of their nine trophies since ending a 40-year drought in 1989. They were back-to-back winners in 1997, 1999, 2004 and 2007, thanks to a golden generation of Brazilian talent, including Ballon d’Or winners Ronaldo (not Portugal’s superstar), Rivaldo, Ronaldinho and Kaka.
Chile enjoyed a golden period in the mid-2010s, winning back-to-back trophies in 2015 and 2016, the only two victories in their history. Paraguay And Peru have also won it several times, and Bolivia and Colombia have won one each, both winning as the host nation.
Ecuador And Venezuela are the only CONMEBOL nations to have never won the trophy. They came relatively close, finishing fourth in the 1993 and 2011 editions but never reached the final.
However, Venezuela has written history in a less desirable way. They have the dishonor of failing to win a single match in 12 consecutive appearances from 1975 to 2004, and are the only South American team to rank outside the top 10 in the tournament’s all-time rankings, surpassed by the Mexico, a frequent guest nation.
