CONMEBOL

In 1916, the first edition of the "Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol" (South-American Football Championship), later known as the "Copa América", was held in Argentina to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Argentine Declaration of Independence. The four participating football associations, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay, met in Buenos Aires to create a governing body for the tournament. CONMEBOL was founded on 9 July 1916. Its creation was ratified on 15 December of the same year, at the first Constitutional Congress in Montevideo. Over the years, six additional South American football associations joined CONMEBOL, the last of which was Venezuela in 1952.

Executive committee

Alejandro Domínguez of Paraguay has been the president of CONMEBOL since January 2016. The vice president is Francisco Egas of Ecuador, and the general secretary is José Astigarraga of Paraguay.

Past presidents

Notes

Regional non-members

The following sovereign states and dependent territories in South America are not members of CONMEBOL. They are members of other confederations or are not affiliated with any confederation.

•  Aruba (CONCACAF)
•  Bonaire (CONCACAF)
•  Curaçao (CONCACAF)
•  Falkland Islands
•  French Guiana (CONCACAF)
•  Guyana (CONCACAF)
•  Suriname (CONCACAF)
•  Trinidad and Tobago (CONCACAF)
• South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

The most prestigious CONMEBOL competition for men's national teams is the Copa América, which was first held in 1916. It is the only continental tournament which can include teams from other continents and confederations. CONMEBOL usually invites several teams from the AFC or CONCACAF to participate.

CONMEBOL organises the two top competitions for men's club teams in South America: the Copa Libertadores and the Copa Sudamericana. The Copa Sudamericana was launched in 2002 as a successor to the Supercopa Libertadores. A third competition, the Copa CONMEBOL, was founded in 1992 and was abolished in 1999. CONMEBOL runs the Copa Libertadores Femenina for women's club teams.

The Recopa Sudamericana is an annual match between the past year's winners of the Copa Libertadores and the winners of the Copa Sudamericana. The Intercontinental Cup was jointly organized with UEFA between the Copa Libertadores and the UEFA Champions League winners, and was discontinued in 2004.

Competitions contested by national teams

• Copa América
• CONMEBOL Men Pre-Olympic Tournament
• South American Under-20 Football Championship
• South American Under-17 Football Championship
• South American Under-15 Football Championship
• Copa América Femenina
• CONMEBOL Women's Nations League
• South American Under-20 Women's Football Championship
• South American Under-17 Women's Football Championship
• Copa América de Futsal
• South American Futsal League
• South American Under-20 Futsal Championship
• South American Under-17 Futsal Championship
• Copa América Femenina de Futsal
• South American Under-20 Women's Futsal Championship
• Copa América of Beach Soccer
• South American Beach Soccer League
• South American Under-20 Beach Soccer Championship
• Superclásico de las Américas

Competitions contested by clubs

• Copa Libertadores
• Copa Sudamericana
• Recopa Sudamericana
• Copa Libertadores Femenina
• Copa Libertadores de Futsal
• Copa Libertadores Femenina de Futsal
• Copa Libertadores de Fútbol Playa
• U-20 Copa Libertadores

Intercontinental competitions

• CONMEBOL-UEFA Cup of Champions
• UEFA-CONMEBOL Club Challenge
• Women's Finalissima
• Futsal Finalissima
• Under-20 Intercontinental Cup

Defunct competitions

• Supercopa Libertadores
• Copa CONMEBOL
• South American Championship of Champions
• Copa Ganadores de Copa
• Copa de Oro
• Copa Mercosur
• Copa Merconorte
• Copa Master de Supercopa
• Copa Master de CONMEBOL
• FIFA Futsal World Cup qualifiers
• FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualifiers
• J.League Cup / Copa Sudamericana Championship
• Intercontinental Champions' Supercup
• Copa Interamericana
• Copa Iberoamericana
• Intercontinental Cup

Current title holders

Overview

Team of the year

Clubs

Football Database rankings

Last updated: 11 January 2026

IFFHS

Last updated on: 13 December 2025  ,

Beach soccer national teams

Men's update: 19 January 2026.

Legend

•  1st  , Champion
•  2nd  , Runner-up
•  3rd  , Third place
•  4th  , Fourth place
• QF, Quarter-finals (1934-1938, 1954-1970, and 1986-present: knockout round of 8)
• R3, Round 3 (2026-present: knockout round of 16)
• R2, Round 2 (1974-1978: second group stage, top 8; 1982: second group stage, top 12; 1986-2022: knockout round of 16; 2026-present: knockout round of 32)
• R1, Round 1 (1930, 1950-1970 and 1986-present: group stage; 1934-1938: knockout round of 16; 1974-1982: first group stage)
• Q , Qualified for upcoming tournament
•  ••  , Qualified but withdrew
•  •  , Did not qualify
•     , Did not enter / Withdrew / Banned
•     , Hosts

For each tournament, the flag of the host country and the number of teams in each finals tournament (in brackets) are shown.

FIFA World Cup

FIFA Women's World Cup

Olympic Games

Men's tournament

Women's tournament

Copa América

Copa América Femenina

FIFA U-20 World Cup

FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup

FIFA U-17 World Cup

FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup

FIFA Futsal World Cup

FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

Former tournaments

FIFA Confederations Cup

On 27 May 2015, several CONMEBOL leaders were arrested in Zürich, Switzerland by Swiss police and indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice on charges of corruption, money laundering, and racketeering. Those swept up in the operation include former CONMEBOL presidents Eugenio Figueredo and Nicolás Léoz, as well as the football administrators Carlos Chávez and Sergio Jadue. On 3 December 2015, CONMEBOL President Juan Ángel Napout was also arrested.