Your Guide to the Copa America

It’s a great time to be a soccer fan, we’ve got the European Championships, Tokyo Olympics, and finally the Copa America. In the run-up to this tournament, which looks to be one to remember, it’s good to look at past tournaments and national heroes, whilst looking at this year’s tournament, teams involved, and possible superstars of the 2021 Copa America.

History of the Copa America

The Copa America is the oldest continental soccer competition in the world. First played in 1916 (105 years ago), the Copa America has brought joy to billions of soccer fans over the decades. The competition is the continental national soccer competition of South America and is the third most-watched competition in the world.

8 of the 10 CONMEBOL teams have previously won the tournament with only Ecuador and Venezuela left to win the title. 

Uruguay is the all-time leader with 15 wins, Argentina is in second with 14 and Brazil is in third place with 9. Here is the full list of past champions:

• [15] Uruguay
• [14] Argentina
• [9] Brazil
• [2] Paraguay
• [2] Chile
• [2] Peru
• [1] Colombia
• [1] Bolivia

Last Tournament (2019 Copa America)

The last edition of the Copa America was held in 2019 and Brazil were crowned champions, giving them their elusive 9th title, having not won since 2007. The sportsbooks had Brazil down as outright favorites, meaning they were spot on.

Dani Alves was awarded the Golden Ball Award, Everton Soares was awarded the Golden Boot, scoring 3 goals. The Golden Glove was awarded to Liverpool number 1, Alisson Becker, and Brazil being awarded the Fair Play Award, giving Brazil a clean sweep for the tournament.

The team of the tournament was announced by the Technical Study Group:

Goalkeeper

• Alisson Becker

Defenders

• Dani Alves
• José Giménez
• Thiago Silva
• Miguel Trauco

Midfielders

• Arthur
• Leandro Paredes
• Arturo Vidal

Forwards

• James Rodríguez
• Paolo Guerrero
• Everton Soares

2021 Copa America

This year’s tournament is being co-hosted by Argentina and Colombia and will be the 47th edition of the Copa America. The tournament is kicking off on June 13 and will come to a conclusion on July 10. 

The teams taking part are the expected 10; Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela. With two more teams invited to play Australia and Qatar. 

However, these teams will not be competing due to scheduling conflicts as the Copa America was meant to take place in 2020 but was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This makes this year’s Copa America the first tournament since 1991 to be played with only 10 nations.

The two groups as it stands are:

Group A: South Zone

• Argentina
• Bolivia
• Uruguay
• Chile
• Paraguay

Group B: North Zone

• Colombia
• Brazil
• Venezuela
• Ecuador
• Peru

Favorites & Ones to Watch

It’s hard to look past Argentina and Brazil in this tournament, with both having outstanding players in good form. The sportsbooks will be having Argentina down as the outright favorite, however. 

Some notable players who we expect to be making an appearance for Brazil are the massively in form  Ederson currently playing for Manchester City and Neymar currently ripping it up in Ligue 1 with Paris Saint-Germain.

For Argentina, a few to keep your eye out for would be the outstanding Lional Messi, the Barca legend, and the young bull, Lautaro Martínez, who helped Internazionale win their first Scudetto since the 2009/10 season.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this guide to the 2021 Copa America and have now got some more information on past winners, players to watch, and when the tournament finally kicks off. This year’s Copa America looks likely to be one of the best in recent memory and we can’t wait for it to begin.