Copa America winners list: Argentina most successful team ahead of Uruguay

Copa America is a premier football competition for countries in South America. Starting in 1916 as the South American Football Championship, it is also the oldest running football tournament in the world and has been contested 47 times.

From legends Diego Maradona and Pele to modern-day greats Lionel Messi and Neymar Jr., the competition has featured some of the finest talents of the world.

However, the event we see today wasn’t as organised when it was initiated over a century ago by CONMEBOL - the governing body of football in South America.

During the early years, the tournament followed an erratic timetable and was played between just four nations - Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay.

However, the continental contest has undergone a slew of changes. The name was changed to Copa America in 1975, the number of teams increased gradually and the tournament now has a fixed schedule.

Uruguay dominated the initial years of the competition, winning six trophies in the first 10 campaigns. The Argentina football team won the title 12 times in the South American Championship era, including a hat-trick between 1945-1947.

Argentina are the most successful team in Copa America, having won 16 titles. Uruguay is next best, winning the trophy 15 times.

Copa America winners list

After a gap of eight years, the competition resumed in 1975 with a new name - Copa America. The tournament was played throughout the year in all 10 participating nations, with defending champions Uruguay receiving a bye into the semi-final. Peru won the first rebranded championship.

Copa America was held every four years with this format until 1987 when CONMEBOL decided to organise it every alternate year.

From 2001 to 2007, the tournament was held every three years and from 2007, Copa became a quadrennial event, with the exception of the 100th-anniversary edition in 2016.

Copa America was held in 2019 and again in 2020 to move it to even years and sync it with the European Championship.

Owing to the limited number of teams in South America, CONMEBOL invites nations from other continents to compete in the tournament. Costa Rica, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico, Panama, Qatar and the USA have been the non-South American nations to take part in the competition.

In the Copa America era, Brazil are the most successful team, winning the competition six times, followed by Uruguay claiming the top honours four times while Argentina have won the continental trophy four times, including the most recent edition in 2024.