Initials(s)
The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) is the continental governing body of association 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, Paraguay. CONMEBOL is responsible for the organization and governance of South American football's major international tournaments. With 10 member football associations, it has the fewest members of all the confederations in FIFA.
CONMEBOL national teams have won nine FIFA World Cups (Brazil five, Argentina and Uruguay two trophies each), and CONMEBOL clubs have won 22 Intercontinental Cups and four FIFA Club World Cups. Argentina and Uruguay have also won two Olympic gold medals each. It is considered one of the strongest confederations in the world.
The World Cup qualifiers of CONMEBOL have been described as the "toughest qualifiers in the world",[1][2] for their simple round-robin system, entry of some of the top national teams in the world, leveling of the weaker national teams, climate conditions, geographic conditions, strong home stands and passionate supporters. Currently, the Confederation is planning to create the first women's qualification to the FIFA Women's World Cup to replace the Copa América Femenina.
Juan Ángel Napout was the interim president of CONMEBOL until March, 2015 but then he was promoted to full-time president. Napout replaced the former president Eugenio Figueredo who resigned on August 8, 2014. The first and second vicepresidents are Luis Bedoya and Sergio Jadue.
In 1916, the first edition of the Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol, now known as the Copa América, was contested in Argentina to commemorate the centenary of the Argentine Declaration of Independence. The four participating associations of that tournament gathered together in order to officially create a governing body to facilitate the organization of the tournament. Thus, CONMEBOL was founded on July 9, 1916, Argentine Independence Day, under the initiative of Uruguayan Héctor Rivadavia, but approved by the football associations of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay. The constitutional congress on December 15 of that same year ratified the decision.
Over the years, the other football associations in South America joined, with the last being Venezuela in 1952. Guyana, Suriname, and the French overseas department of French Guiana, while geographically in South America, are not part of CONMEBOL. Consisting of a French territory, a former British territory, and a former Dutch territory, and located near the Caribbean Sea, they are part of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF), mainly due to historical, cultural, and sporting reasons. With ten member nations, CONMEBOL is the smallest and the only fully continental land-based FIFA confederation (no insular countries or associates from different continents).
The main competition for men's national teams is the Copa América, started in 1916. CONMEBOL also runs national competitions at Under-20, Under-17 and Under-15 levels. For women's national teams, CONMEBOL operates the Copa América Femenina for senior national sides, as well as Under-20 and Under-17 championships.
In futsal there is the Copa América de Futsal and Campeonato Sudamericano de Futsal Sub-20. The Campeonato Sudamericano Femenino de Futsal is the women's equivalent to the man's tournament.
CONMEBOL also runs the two main club competitions in South America: the Copa Libertadores was first held in 1960 and the Copa Sudamericana was launched by CONMEBOL in 2002 as an indirect successor to the Supercopa Libertadores (begun in 1988). A third competition, the Copa CONMEBOL, started in 1992 and was abolished in 1999. In women's football CONMEBOL also conducts the Copa Libertadores Femenina for club teams. The competition was first held in 2009.
The Recopa Sudamericana pits the past year's winners of the Copa Libertadores against the winners of the Copa Sudamericana (previously the winners of the Supercopa Libertadores), and came into being in 1989.
The Intercontinental Cup was jointly organized with UEFA between the Copa Libertadores and the UEFA Champions League winners.
Top division
Argentina AFA 1893 1916 ARG (M, W) Primera División
Bolivia FBF 1925 1926 BOL (M, W) Liga Profesional
Brazil CBF 1914 1916 BRA (M, W) Campeonato Brasileiro Série A
Chile FFC 1895 1916 CHI (M, W) Primera División
Colombia FCF 1924 1936 COL (M, W) Primera A
Ecuador FEF 1925 1927 ECU (M, W) Serie A
Paraguay APF 1906 1921 PAR (M, W) División Profesional
Peru FPF 1922 1925 PER (M, W) Primera División
Uruguay AUF 1899 1916 URU (M, W) Primera División
Venezuela FVF 1926 1952 VEN (M, W) Primera División
CONMEBOL competitions
National teams:
Superclásico de las Américas
South American Under-20 Football Championship
Copa América Femenina
South American Under-20 Women's Football Championship
Copa América de Futsal
South American Under-20 Futsal Championship
South American Women's Futsal Championship
CONMEBOL Beach Soccer Championship
CONMEBOL Men Pre-Olympic Tournament
Copa Libertadores de América
Copa Libertadores de Fútbol Femenino
South American Championship of Champions
Copa Ganadores de Copa
Copa Merconorte
Copa Master de Supercopa
Copa Master de Conmebol
Supercopa de Campeones Intercontinentales
U-20 Copa Libertadores
Performances at FIFA tournaments
World Cup Finals
See also: 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL)
World Cup Participation and Results
1st – Champion
2nd – Runner-up
3rd – Third Place[3]
4th - Fourth place
QF – Quarterfinals
R16 – Round of 16 (since 1986: knockout round of 16)
R2 - Second round (for the 1974, 1978, and 1982 tournaments, which had two group stages)
GS – Group Stage (in the 1950, 1974, 1978, and 1982 tournaments, which had two group stages, this refers to the first group stage)
1S – First Knockout Stage (1934–1938 Single-elimination tournament)
Q — Qualified for upcoming tournament
• — Did not qualify
— Did not enter / Withdrew / Banned
— Hosts
WC Qual.
Brazil GS 1S 3rd 2nd QF 1st 1st GS 1st 4th 3rd R2 QF R16 1st 2nd 1st QF QF 4th 20 20
Argentina 2nd 1S GS GS QF • R2 1st R2 1st 2nd R16 QF GS QF QF 2nd 16 17
Uruguay 1st 1st 4th • GS QF 4th GS • • R16 R16 • • GS • 4th R16 12 18
Chile GS GS • • 3rd GS • GS • GS • • R16 • • R16 R16 9 17
Paraguay GS GS • GS • • • • • • R16 • • R16 R16 GS QF • 8 18
Colombia • GS • • • • • • R16 GS GS • • • QF 5 15
Peru GS • • • QF • R2 GS • • • • • • • • 4 16
Bolivia GS GS • • • • • • • • • GS • • • • • 3 17
Ecuador • • • • • • • • • • GS R16 • GS 3 14
Venezuela • • • • • • • • • • • • 0 12
Combined CONMEBOL Appearances
inclusive World Cup Qualification 7 2 1 5 4 8 9 10 10 9 10 10 10 10 9 10 10 10 10 10 TBD TBD 164
1st – Champions
2nd – Runners-up
3rd – Third place
4th – Fourth place
GS – Group stage
•• — Qualified but withdrew
× — Did not enter / Withdrew from the Copa América or withdrew from the Confederations Cup / Banned
Argentina 1st 2nd • • • × 2nd • •
Bolivia • • • GS • • • • •
Brazil • × 1st 2nd 4th GS 1st 1st 1st
Colombia • • • • • 4th • • •
Uruguay • • 4th • • • • • 4th
Women's World Cup Finals
The following table shows the CONMEBOL representatives at each edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, sorted by alphabetical order.
Argentina • • GS GS • • 2 6
Bolivia • • • • • • 0 6
Brazil GS GS 3rd QF 2nd QF Q 7 7
Chile • • • • • • • 0 7
Colombia • • • GS Q 2 5
Ecuador • • • • • Q 1 6
Paraguay • • • • • 0 5
Peru • • • • • 0 5
Uruguay • • • • • 0 5
Venezuela • • • • • • 0 6
inclusive World Cup Qualification 3 5 10 10 10 10 10 58
CONMEBOL presidents
Héctor Rivadavia Gómez
Luis O. Salesi
Luis Valenzuela Hermosilla
Carlos Dittborn Pinto
José Ramos de Freitas
Fermín Sorhueta
Raúl H. Colombo
Teófilo Salinas Fuller
Nicolás Léoz
Eugenio Figueredo
Juan Ángel Napout
Chili 1st
San Lorenzo 1st
River Plate 1st
Atlético Nacional 2015
Atlético Mineiro 1st
Lanús 2015
South American Under-20 Championship
Argentina 5th
Argentina 3rd
Peru 1st
Brazil 6th
Venezuela 1st
Top FIFA ranked team
Last updates:
Men's national teams: 18 September 2014
Women's national teams: 20 June 2014
Top men's national teams
Rankings are calculated by FIFA.
Top women's national teams
CSF FIFA Nation Points CSF FIFA Nation Points
Argentina 1631 1 6
Colombia 1488 2 31
Brazil 1291 3 35
Uruguay 1243 4 42
Chile 1100 5 66
Ecuador 889 6 71
Peru 523 7 85
Paraguay 514 8 125
Venezuela 476 9 125
Bolivia 346 10 125
Santa Fe 399.380
Santos 345.920
Vélez Sársfield 315.870
São Paulo 298.000
Internacional 294.040
Libertad 268.880
Corinthians 510.200
Atlético Mineiro 245.880
Olimpia 238.840
Last updated on: July 24, 2013 – Current Standings
IFFHS
Lanús 277.0
Atlético Nacional 276.0
Vélez Sarsfield 217.0
Atlético Mineiro 216.0
San Lorenzo 213.0
Grêmio 212.0
Cruzeiro 205.0
Arsenal 202.0
Atlético Paranaense 192.0
Universidad de Chile 180.5
Last updated on: May 31, 2014 – [1]
↑ "La eliminatoria más difícil del mundo", ESPN (in Spanish)
↑ "South American WCQ toughest in world", ESPN
↑ There was no Third Place match in 1930; The United States and Yugoslavia lost in the semifinals. FIFA recognizes the United States as the third-placed team and Yugoslavia as the fourth-placed team using the overall records of the teams in the 1930 FIFA World Cup.
Retrieved from "https://football.fandom.com/wiki/CONMEBOL?oldid=216498"