Football in South America
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Football is considered one of the greatest sports in
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
.
Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
was first introduced to the continent during the nineteenth century, as part of the worldwide diffusion of
British culture British culture is influenced by the combined nations' history; its historically Christian religious life, its interaction with the cultures of Europe, the traditions of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland and the impact of the British Empire. ...
initiated by the
British diaspora The British diaspora consists of people of British ancestry (and their descendants) who emigrated from the United Kingdom. For the purposes of this article, the people of British Overseas Territories are not included as ''British people'' thoug ...
and subsequent acceptance of the sport by the region's
Anglophile An Anglophile is a person who admires or loves England, its people, its culture, its language, and/or its various accents. Etymology The word is derived from the Latin word ''Anglii'' and Ancient Greek word φίλος ''philos'', meaning "frien ...
elite. Football was widely regarded as a symbol of
modernity Modernity, a topic in the humanities and social sciences, is both a historical period (the modern era) and the ensemble of particular socio-cultural norm (social), norms, attitudes and practices that arose in the wake of the Renaissancein the " ...
and good
health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...
, and over time it replaced older fashionable sports, such as Bochas. By the middle of the twentieth century, it had become the primary mainstream sport across most of the continent. The sport's organization is governed by domestic federations (or associations) and continental confederations, all of which are members of
FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
. Most South American football federations are part of
CONMEBOL The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL, , or CSF; es, Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol; pt, Confederação Sul-Americana de Futebol) is the continental governing body of football in South America (apart from Guyana, Suri ...
(the South American Football Confederation). There are a few exceptions: the associations based in
the Guianas The Guianas, sometimes called by the Spanish loan-word ''Guayanas'' (''Las Guayanas''), is a region in north-eastern South America which includes the following three territories: * French Guiana, an overseas department and region of France * ...
, which are part of
CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football,, ; french: Confédération de football d'Amérique du Nord, d'Amérique centrale et des Caraïbes, . Dutch uses the English name. abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typese ...
(the
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
n Football Confederation), and the
Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouzet ...
/Islas Malvinas. The development of football is also organized by these domestic and international federations in conjunction with governmental sports authorities. Each country in South America has its own unique football development infrastructure, enjoying varying degrees of success.


History

Football in South America originated some time during the nineteenth century. European sailors played the game in the port of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and it gradually spread to nearby urban areas. In 1867, there was a large European community in Buenos Aires, with many British workers employed by the British railway companies on a major expansion of the rail network. An unofficial football league formed, known as the Great British League, which in practice was divided into an English and a Scottish league. Two English immigrants, Thomas and James Hogg, organized a meeting in the Argentine capital on May 9, 1867, at which the first Latin American football club was established: the
Buenos Aires Football Club The Buenos Aires Football Club (frequently abbreviated as "BAFC") was an Argentine association football club from Buenos Aires, considered the first football club not only in Argentina but in South America. Although BAFC was founded to play assoc ...
. The Buenos Aires Cricket Club granted permission to the football club to use its cricket ground in
Parque Tres de Febrero Parque Tres de Febrero, popularly known as Bosques de Palermo (Palermo Woods), is an urban park of approximately 400 hectares (about 989 acres) located in the neighborhood of Palermo in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Located between Libertador and Fi ...
. The Buenos Aires Football Club played its first football match on June 20 that year, with sixteen players altogether, only eight of whom were British. Fewer players than expected participated, as some players hung back to see how such a match would play out. The football club founders played with their six teammates and won the game four goals to zero.An image of a match report from ''The Standard'' d.d. 23 June 1867 may be seen
here Here is an adverb that means "in, on, or at this place". It may also refer to: Software * Here Technologies, a mapping company * Here WeGo (formerly Here Maps), a mobile app and map website by Here Television * Here TV (formerly "here!"), a TV ...
.
The gradual rise in popularity of football after 1867 was due mainly to the influence of schools and the associated sports clubs. In Paraguay, Dutch physical education teacher William Paats taught his pupils the game and established rules, although he is not credited with the sport's breakthrough in the country. That honor goes to a Paraguayan who had witnessed one of the first league games in Buenos Aires. The first official competition was held in Argentina in 1891, preceding the foundation of the football leagues of both Europe and the Americas.
La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...
was contested that year between five clubs, each club facing its opponents twice. Football spread elsewhere in South America, as it had in the port of Buenos Aires and later throughout Argentina. The process also occurred in North America, where Europeans settling in the United States and Canada in the second half of the nineteenth century brought football with them. Before the end of the nineteenth century, informal football matches were already being held between teams hailing from different parts of the newly-formed countries. Finally, in the twentieth century football was introduced in the United States as a counterpoint to
American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
. In the northern part of Latin America,
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
and
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
were introduced, competing with football and slowing the development of football infrastructure in Central America compared with other parts of the continent. In 1927, Costa Rica became the first country to sign up to the world football association,
FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
, founded in 1904. In 1929, it was followed by Mexico. Football had been introduced by Europeans who had remained in America but, in turn, young Latin Americans were attracted to Europe. When
capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for Profit (economics), profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, pric ...
was introduced in Central and South America, countries like Costa Rica became a link in the global economy. As a result, European countries had an impact not just on political and economic matters, but also in the cultural field. The younger generation went to Western Europe, especially England, and was exposed to football at public facilities and university squares there. Courtesy of the
British colonies A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony administered by The Crown within the British Empire. There was usually a Governor, appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the UK Government, with or without the assistance of a local Counci ...
in the
Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
,
cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
won the popularity contest against football, among other pastimes. Football was popular in Jamaican townships, but at a regional level it only broke through towards the end of the twentieth century. The first match between two Caribbean countries was held in 1925. In a series of three encounters, the
Jamaica national football team The Jamaica national football team, nicknamed the "Reggae Boyz", represents Jamaica in international football. The team's first match was against Haiti in 1925. The squad is under the supervising body of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF ...
won three times over
Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...
. Four years later, the first Nations Cup was played on the Central American mainland, in celebration of the centenary of independence from Spain.


Integration into society

Football was first introduced to South America in 1867, in Argentina. Brazil, to which the Briton Charles Miller brought football in 1894, is considered the second South American country in which football made an appearance. Miller was born in
São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...
of a Brazilian mother who belonged to the elite of that city's population. Miller's father was a railroad worker of Scottish descent. Miller was sent to boarding school in
Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
at the age of ten, in 1884. Like the Costa Rican circular migrants, he discovered football in England. Miller went on to found the first team in Brazil, as part of the athletics club of São Paulo, and also the first football league, the
Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional association football, football league in the Brazilian States of Brazil, state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo. Run b ...
. Europeans living in Latin America played the sport. Football grew in popularity among railway employees, and increasingly attracted attention away from cricket. British football was introduced in countries like Panama, Bolivia, Peru and Venezuela, but the sport's full integration into society followed later. Brazilians and Argentinians were the first to record football as a part of their culture. The sport caught on quickly, especially in less affluent neighborhoods. Children played from an early age in the streets, squares, vacant lots and fields and devised strategies and techniques. Football clubs and youth programs sprang up. In the 1930s, the highest-level competitive divisions in most Latin American countries included some
professional football In professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, participants receive payment for their performance. Professionalism in sport has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larg ...
clubs. By that time, where previously it had been a sport primarily for Europeans, football had become definitively established in the culture and enjoyed great popularity almost everywhere. In 1923, Brazilian
CR Vasco da Gama Club de Regatas Vasco da Gama (), commonly referred as Vasco da Gama or simply Vasco, is a professional sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Originally a rowing club, Vasco is mostly known for its football team, who it currently compet ...
became the first professional club to recruit local, black players, launching an irreversible trend.


Renewed British influence

While the British brought football to Latin America, they did not implement successful and consistent integration policies. Across the continent, their ideas about football faded within a short time, leaving no clear overall game concept or generally accepted rules. In the early twentieth century, British football clubs began touring in countries in the Americas. They taught practitioners of the sport an English way of playing, stimulating new developments in Latin American football. These tours led to the semi-amateur sport becoming a professional spectator sport.
Southampton F.C. Southampton Football Club () is an English professional football club based in Southampton, Hampshire, which competes in the . Their home ground since 2001 has been St Mary's Stadium, before which they were based at The Dell. The club play in ...
, founded in 1885, travelled to Buenos Aires in 1904 at the invitation of the Sociedad Hípica, an elite club in the Argentine capital. The high attendance demonstrated that the friendly match between the local club and Southampton was not just a sporting encounter but an elite social event. The then President of Argentina, Julio Roca, attended the match, accompanied by his War Secretary and a military escort, as football had recently been introduced in the
Argentine Army The Argentine Army ( es, Ejército Argentino, EA) is the land force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of Argentina. Under the Argentine Constitution, the president of Argentina is the commander- ...
. During its tour in Buenos Aires and Uruguay's capital Montevideo, Southampton made a great impression on the local population, especially the British. British belief in their own sporting superiority was strengthened.
Nottingham Forest F.C. Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Trent ...
followed, in 1905. During the trip across the Atlantic, the players kept fit by playing cricket on deck. They toured Montevideo,
Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west bank of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third-most populous ci ...
and Buenos Aires for a total of seven matches. The results showed their superiority over the local football clubs. Británicos and Liga Argentina The name "Liga Argentina" probably designated a star ensemble or representative team of Argentine football. This team is mentioned in several sources covering conflict between Argentinian gameplay and the original British style. The team would have consisted almost entirely of Anglo-Argentine players were defeated 13–1 and 9–1 respectively. Nottingham Forest also easily dispatched the national team of Argentina 5–0. Ultimately, Nottingham F.C. scored 52 goals on its South American tour and conceded only three. Its impressive dominance on the field further reinforced the football-loving British sense of superiority. The popularity of the British clubs led a group of employees of a luxury department store in downtown Buenos Aires to establish their own independent football club,
CA Independiente CA or ca may refer to: Businesses and organizations Companies * Air China (IATA airline code CA) * CA Technologies, a U.S. software company * Cayman Airways, a Cayman Islands airline * Channel America, a defunct U.S. television network * Classi ...
, in 1904. They then changed the team color to red, a choice inspired by Nottingham Forest and reinforced by the symbolic connection of the color with the socialist movement in the country, which some of Independiente's founders supported. 1906 marked a turning point in Argentinian football, and Latin American football as a whole, when a South African team played a series of matches in South America. South African football had developed along lines reasonably similar to Latin America. While the South African club still played below the level of the British, the game had developed a lot more than the game played in countries like Argentina and Uruguay. They defeated Brazilian club
Paulista Paulista is a municipality in Pernambuco, Brazil, with a population of 334,376 as of 2020. It has the highest Human Development Index (HDI) of the Recife metropolitan area. It is the birthplace of footballer Rivaldo and is also famous for its beac ...
6–0, and scored 14 goals to eliminate a student team.
Alumni Athletic Club Alumni Athletic Club, or simply Alumni, was an Argentine football team active during the first years of the sport in that country. Although officially founded in 1898, the team had been formed in 1893 when a group of students from the Buenos Air ...
, founded in 1898, was the only club able to make a stand against the South Africans. After its 1–0 win, the first victory of an Argentinian club against an overseas opponent, the audience stormed the field to lift the players high in celebration. This is presumed to have been the first such win in Latin America, and Alumni were congratulated by the then President of the Republic. Visits from overseas clubs signalled the increasing integration of football in society, boosting the sport's professionalization and the public's enthusiasm. British clubs accepted invitations in order to play the role of "football missionary", which proved of great importance for the further development of Latin American football.


First confederations and international competitions

The number of clubs with paid contracts rose, and both the Board and the game professionalized. In 1910, for the first time a country tournament involving more than two national teams was held, although it was informal and not officially recognized by
CONMEBOL The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL, , or CSF; es, Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol; pt, Confederação Sul-Americana de Futebol) is the continental governing body of football in South America (apart from Guyana, Suri ...
. The three matches of the Copa Centenario Revolución de Mayo, between host Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, were played in May and June. Argentina was the unbeaten winner. This tournament is also considered the first
Copa América The Copa América ( en, America Cup) or CONMEBOL Copa América, known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship (''Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol'' in Spanish and ''Campeonato Sul-Americano de Futebol'' in Portuguese), is the t ...
, or its direct precursor. The official
first edition The bibliographical definition of an edition includes all copies of a book printed from substantially the same setting of type, including all minor typographical variants. First edition According to the definition of ''edition'' above, a b ...
of the Copa América, at the time called the Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol, was organized by Argentina in 1916 to commemorate the centenary of the
Argentine War of Independence The Argentine War of Independence ( es, Guerra de Independencia de Argentina, links=no) was a secessionist civil war fought from 1810 to 1818 by Argentine patriotic forces under Manuel Belgrano, Juan José Castelli and José de San Martín a ...
(1810–1818). Four countries took part, with Brazil invited in addition to the previous participants. Uruguay won two matches, emerging as the first South American champion. The then 19-year-old
Isabelino Gradín Isabelino Gradín (8 July 1897 – 21 December 1944) was a Uruguayan footballer and athlete. He was considered to be one of the greatest footballers in the early era of Uruguayan football and is regarded as one of the greatest Uruguayan players ...
was Uruguay's best player, and the tournament's top scorer, with three goals. A day after Uruguay's big victory in Chile, the Chilean Football Federation demanded reversal of the results, on the grounds that two Africans were on the Uruguayan team. Gradín, who had scored twice in that match, was one, as his great-grandparents had been slaves from Lesotho. Chile's protest was ultimately rejected, and Uruguay declared the rightful winner. The Uruguayan team went on to win six of the first ten editions, losing the final once and facing protests from Chile on two occasions. The Campeonato Sudamericano was the world's first tournament between nations, pre-dating the
European Football Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contes ...
founded almost half a century later. In 1916, Chile was also the only country that had a national team with several black players. The continental football confederation CONMEBOL was founded during the first Copa América on July 9, 1910, permanently ending the profound influence of the Western Europeans who had introduced the sport to Latin America. Although this first tournament was not entirely without incident – in addition to the Chilean protest, there were riots during the final game, in which the wooden bleachers were set on fire – it formed the basis for a tournament among nations that took place, initially every two years and then annually, under the auspices of the oldest continental football association. CONCACAF was founded in 1961 for Central America and the Caribbean. Before that time, there were two separate federations. The Confederación Centroamericana y del Caribe de Fútbol (CCCF), founded in 1938, covered most countries in Central America and the Caribbean. The North American Football Confederation (NAFC) was created in 1946 for Canada, the United States, Mexico and Cuba. The first international football tournaments were held in this northern part of Latin America. Costa Rica won seven of the ten
CCCF Championship The CCCF Championship was an association football (soccer) tournament made for teams in the area of Central America and the Caribbean between the years of 1941 and 1961. It was founded in 1938 and the precursor of the CONCACAF, that was formed wh ...
s, and Mexico won three of four
NAFC Championship The North American Nations Cup and NAFC Championship were association football tournaments for teams in the area of North America. In 1947 and 1949, the NAFC Championship was organized by the North American Football Confederation. Cuba, Mexico, a ...
s. Throughout Latin America, international club tournaments followed later. An exception was the highest-ranking clubs in Uruguay and Argentina, which began organizing small tournaments in the early twentieth century. These tournaments, called the Copa Río de la Plata, welcomed both the clubs and their supporters. Indirectly, this gave rise to the creation of the first continental club tournament in sports history, the
South American Championship of Champions The South American Championship of Champions ( es, Campeonato Sudamericano de Campeones, pt, Campeonato Sul-Americano de Campeões) was a football competition played in Santiago, Chile in 1948 and the first continental-wide football tournament in ...
(''Campeonato Sudamericano de Campeones''), in 1948. Seven clubs from seven CONMEBOL countries participated in this one-off tournament. CD Lítoral (Bolivia) and CS Emelec (Ecuador) were the only clubs with no experience, not having their own national competition. The Campeonato Sudamericano also led to the creation of the first international form of competition for clubs in Europe. Frenchman
Jacques Ferran Ancient and noble French family names, Jacques, Jacq, or James are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are over ...
, a journalist for '' L'Equipe'', reported on the South American tournament, and was so enthusiastic that he briefed his editor on the concept. Gabriel Hanot then brought the idea to UEFA, leading indirectly to the introduction of the
European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
in 1955. In the CONCACAF region, the Champions' Cup was founded in 1962. For a short time, this served as a qualifying tournament for the
Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...
, established by CONMEBOL in 1960. Almost from its inception, the tournament was dominated by Mexican clubs.


Uruguay’s first Olympics

The
1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1924), officially the Games of the VIII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la VIIIe olympiade) and also known as Paris 1924, were an international multi-sport event held in Paris, France. The op ...
was the first global event in which a football team from Latin America participated. Atilio Narancio, a board member of the Uruguayan Football Association, wanted the national team to play in the tournament in Paris. In South America, even in Uruguay, this was considered incomprehensible and unwise. Preparation time to ready a team for the trip to Europe and high-level play was short, funding insufficient, and Uruguayans feared humiliation by the European players despite success in their own part of the world.By the time Uruguay announced its participation in the Summer Olympics of 1924, the country had already won the South American championship four times and had often dominated the other two major South American football countries,
Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
and Brazil.
Most players had regular jobs they could not leave from one day to the next. Typical was the position of the captain of Uruguay's national team.
José Nasazzi José Nasazzi Yarza (24 March 1901 – 17 June 1968) was a Uruguayan footballer who played as a defender. He captained his country when they won the inaugural FIFA World Cup in 1930. Career He was born in Bella Vista, Montevideo to Giuseppe ...
was a marble-cutter during the week, and was at work when he heard the decision to participate in the Games despite the criticism. The decision was taken only after
lobbying In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agency, regulatory agencie ...
in the Uruguayan parliament, which had to give consent before final preparations could be made. The Uruguayan selection left for Europe on the cheapest boat available, sailing to Spain where they played a series of exhibition matches. These friendly encounters were intended to finance the costly trip across the Atlantic and the stay in Paris during the tournament. The Uruguayan team did not lose a single match in Spain, the country that was still the colonial power in South America barely a century before. Seeing club after club defeated, and leaving nothing to chance,
Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...
, one of the biggest clubs at the time, quickly brought talent from across the country to Madrid. The referees would take the necessary decisions, and the presence of the king,
Alfonso XIII Alfonso XIII (17 May 1886 – 28 February 1941), also known as El Africano or the African, was King of Spain from 17 May 1886 to 14 April 1931, when the Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed. He was a monarch from birth as his father, Alfo ...
, among the twenty thousand spectators would add to the Spanish players’ motivation. It did not help: Madrid in turn was unable to win. Despite this success, Uruguay entered the Olympic tournament as the
underdog An underdog is a person or group in a competition, usually in sports and creative works, who is largely expected to lose. The party, team, or individual expected to win is called the favorite or top dog. In the case where an underdog wins, the ...
. European participants, overconfident, were unimpressed by an overseas opponent that had travelled no further than Argentina before 1924. Yugoslavia, Uruguay's first opponent, which would go on to place third in the first World Cup six years later, suffered a 7–0 defeat. While this was not the worst first round result, it caused consternation. Yugoslav game-play had been sound, and cooperation between the players smooth, and yet the unknown Uruguayan team had played them off the field. Three days later, the United States were defeated; in the quarterfinals Uruguay beat France without difficulty. In the semifinals Uruguay encountered some resistance, scoring a winning penalty against the Dutch just nine minutes before the end of the match. On June 9, 1924, Uruguay won the Olympic football tournament, beating Switzerland 3–0. Uruguay won again at the next Olympic Games, in Amsterdam in 1928, with Argentina also reaching the final after a series of decisive victories which included an 11–2 win against the United States. It was a global introduction to the successful Latin American approach and style of play.


First World Cups


Uruguay 1930

In May 1929, Uruguay was appointed host country of the first World Cup, to be held in 1930. As winner of the two preceding Olympic football tournaments, Uruguay was a logical candidate. Several European countries also applied, but withdrew in quick succession in an attempt to promote Italy's bid. The award of hosting rights to a Latin American country led to
boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict som ...
s by Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden. Two months before the start of the event, no European country had accepted the invitation. Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Switzerland also withdrew, citing the long trip to Uruguay. The organizers offered financial compensation for the two-week transatlantic cruise, in vain. British nations were not eligible to participate as they were not yet members of FIFA. The only European countries that ultimately undertook the trip to Uruguay were Belgium, France, Yugoslavia and Romania. Latin American countries were well represented, comprising eight of the thirteen participants, and included Argentina, Bolivia, and Mexico. Over seventeen days, the first global football tournament was played in three stadiums in and around
Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...
, alongside the Olympic Games. The thirteen countries were divided into four groups, each group winner securing a place in the semi-finals. Construction of the first stadium with a capacity of more than 100,000 spectators,
Estadio Centenario Estadio Centenario is a stadium in the Parque Batlle of Montevideo, Uruguay, used primarily for football. The stadium was built between 1929 and 1930 to host the inaugural 1930 FIFA World Cup, as well as to commemorate the centenary of Uruguay ...
, named after the centenary of independence, was only completed five days after the start of the championship. The delay, caused by heavy rain, resulted in some matches being diverted to two other stadiums in the area, without further incident./classicfootball/stadiums/stadium=34866/index.html Classic Football - Stadiums - Centenario
on the official website of world football
FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
. Accessed on 9 November 2014.
Uruguay was favorite for the title of first world champion, after establishing itself as a strong footballing country with its wins at the Olympic Games of 1924 and 1928. High discipline was expected of the Uruguayan selection, which had isolated itself for two months to prepare. Illustrating this strict approach, goalkeeper
Andrés Mazali Andrés Mazali Gini (22 July 1902 – 30 October 1975), nicknamed as El Buzo (The Diver), was a goalkeeper who played for the Uruguay national team. He spent his entire club career with Nacional. He was a twice Olympic gold medalist for Urugua ...
, who had played in both Olympic finals, was dismissed from the selection for failing to respect the team curfew. The first match was played on July 13.
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
beat
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
4–1, Frenchman
Lucien Laurent Lucien Laurent (10 December 1907 – 11 April 2005) was a French association football player who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Playing for France national football team, France, at the 1930 FIFA World Cup, 1930 World Cup he ...
entering the record books as the first World Cup scorer. It was France's only win of the tournament, and one of only four matches won by European countries. Controversial action by the Brazilian referee in the third match, between France and the favorite Argentina, caused an uproar. He ended the game six minutes before the end of regular time, just after Argentinian player Monti had taken an unsuccessful free-kick and French striker Langiller had set up a counterattack and was about to equalize. The referee's call angered France and led to chaos on the field, until he decided to allow the two teams back onto the field to play out the remaining time.Hosts Uruguay beat arch-rivals to first world crown
on the official world Football website
FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
. Accessed on 9 November 2014.
Argentina played its second game against Mexico, also from Latin America, and won 6–3. Argentinian Manuel Ferreira had opted out shortly before the match, as he had to take a university exam. His replacement was
Guillermo Stábile Guillermo Stábile (17 January 1905 – 26 December 1966) was an Argentine professional football player and manager who played as a centre forward. At club level, Stábile won two national championships with Huracán and played in Italy and Fran ...
, who went on to become the first top
scorer In cricket, a scorer is someone appointed to record all runs scored, all wickets taken and, where appropriate, the number of overs bowled. In professional games, in compliance with Law 3 of the ''Laws of Cricket'', two scorers are appointed, ...
of the World Cup. While he scored three goals against Mexico, he did not take out the record as scoring the first
hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...
in World Cup history.Until November 2006, details of the first hat-tricks of the World Cup remained vague. Most archives and literature attributed the record to Stábile; a minority identified American
Bert Patenaude Bertrand "Bert" Arthur Patenaude (; November 4, 1909November 4, 1974) was an American soccer player who played as a forward. Although it was formerly disputed, he is now officially credited by FIFA as scorer of the first hat-trick in the World Cu ...
as having scored three times against Paraguay, two days before the Argentina-Mexico match. After review by FIFA, on November 10, 2006, Patenaude was designated the first footballer in World Cup history to score a hat-trick.
The first World Cup final was a repeat of the Olympic final of 1928. In the semifinals, Argentina and Uruguay both defeated their opponents 6–1 (the United States and Yugoslavia respectively). Several incidents occurred prior to this match. There was disagreement over the game ball: both finalists wanted to play with a homegrown football, which forced FIFA to intervene. The conflict was settled by playing the first half with an Argentinian ball and the second half with a ball of Uruguayan origin. Thousands of Argentinian supporters took ferries across the
Río de la Plata The Río de la Plata (, "river of silver"), also called the River Plate or La Plata River in English, is the estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River at Punta Gorda. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean and fo ...
, the natural border between the two countries, to attend the match. Because of fears of harassment by supporters, the referee for the final was announced just three hours before the start of the game. The referee, Belgian
John Langenus John Langenus (9 December 1891, in Antwerp, BelgiumPl ...
, demanded a police escort and a boat to take him out of the country immediately after the final. Both finalists had proved their scoring ability during the tournament.Argentina scored 18 goals during the 1930 FIFA World Cup, Uruguay 15. The goal average for the tournament was 3.89 goals per game, one of the highest averages in the history of the championship. Other than the all-time record of 5.38 for the
1954 FIFA World Cup The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June to 4 July. Switzerla ...
such an average has never been equalled.
Three goals were scored in the first half: Uruguayan Dorado opened the scoring twelve minutes in; Argentina dominated the remainder of the first half, equalizing eight minutes later, and taking the lead with a controversial goal by Stábile in the 37th minute. Uruguay made an unsuccessful protest to the referee, alleging an offside offence. After
half-time In several team sports, matches are played in two halves. Half-time (also written halftime or half time) is the name given to the interval between the two halves of the match. Typically, after half-time, teams swap ends of the field of play in or ...
the situation changed, Uruguay gaining the upper hand with a long-distance shot and a header. The final ended with a 4–2 win for host Uruguay, confirming its status as the dominant football nation. For the second time in a row, a global football tournament had ended with a confrontation between the two South American countries, no European country able to match them. Other Latin American countries fared little better. In its three group matches, Mexico ceded thirteen goals. Peru did not do much better in its group. Bolivia showed before the event that it had little hope of success, each of its players wearing one letter on his jersey that together made up the slogan "VIVA URUGUAY". This did nothing to influence the Uruguayan referee in Bolivia's match against Yugoslavia; at least four Bolivian goals were incorrectly disallowed.


Italy 1934

While most European countries ignored the invitation to participate in the first World Cup in 1930, in the lead-up to the second World Cup enthusiasm increased rapidly. Because of the success of the first tournament, the World Cup was now the largest global football event and more countries wanted a chance to win. Thirty-two of the then fifty FIFA members made their interest known. The large number of participants made the creation of a qualifying tournament necessary. Two Latin American countries decided to participate. Surprisingly, these did not include defending champion Uruguay, which had not forgotten the European countries' wholesale rejection of invitations in 1930 and decided not to send a selection across the ocean. Brazil and Argentina represented the Americas along with the United States at the championship hosted by
Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...
's Italy. The 1934 World Cup was not successful. Argentina sent a selection to Italy almost entirely comprising semi-amateurs, as local clubs refused to let their players go. The board committees feared that if they allowed players to participate, once in Italy they would succumb to irresistible offers from European clubs. Until that point, Brazil had been in the shadow of Uruguay and Argentina, lack of preparation and a naive attitude to international competition undermining the individual qualities of its selection.


France 1938

In 1936, FIFA designated France as host of the third World Cup. This was highly criticized by Argentina, and throughout Latin America, for breaking the unwritten rule that the World Cup would alternate between South America and Europe. FIFA had taken into account the number of FIFA members per continent in its decision – the great majority of the then 57 members came from Europe – and did not forget the difficulties of the first World Cup, when few countries traveled to Uruguay. FIFA was also expressing through this choice its loyalty to its President, Frenchman
Jules Rimet Jules Rimet (; 14 October 1873 – 16 October 1956) was a French football administrator who was the 3rd President of FIFA, serving from 1921 to 1954. He is FIFA's longest-serving president, in office for 33 years. He also served as the presid ...
, who initiated the first FIFA World Cup, held in 1930. After its candidacy failed, Argentina boycotted the event. Uruguay again decided not to participate. Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico and Suriname withdrew from the
qualifier In linguistics, a modifier is an optional element in phrase structure or clause structure which ''modifies'' the meaning of another element in the structure. For instance, the adjective "red" acts as a modifier in the noun phrase "red ball", provi ...
, which meant Brazil and Cuba were assured a place in the main tournament. Cuba, a country that had not been involved in world football before 1938, created surprise by equalling the strong Romanian team in a 3–3 tie. In the second game against Romania, the Caribbean team gained the upper hand, scoring a victory considered the biggest upset of the tournament. The short preparation time before the quarterfinals left Cuba with no chance against more powerful Sweden, which won 8–0. The reformed Brazilian team was made up of racially diverse players. Gone was its naive attitude and tendency to improvisation, replaced by more structured football. Its use of only two defenders had an impact on the final score: Brazil defeated Poland 6–5 in extra time. Despite the makeover, Brazil's aggressive play was on show in the confrontation with Czechoslovakia in the quarterfinals. The 1–1 match ended with only sixteen of the twenty-two players on the field; the referee gave three red cards, and three injured players were taken off the field after a brawl. The second Brazil-Czechoslovakia match was without incident, Brazil winning by one goal. Following the battles of the quarterfinals, the coach decided to rest several players in the semi-final against Italy. This turned out to be a tactical miscalculation, and Brazil lost to the ultimate world champions. But its third-place result gave encouragement to the young Brazilian squad for the following years.


Latin American dominance

Latin America continued to grow in international football, as did the international impact of its three biggest football-playing countries: Brazil, which participated in all World Cup events; Argentina, only absent from the main event four times; and Uruguay, which won the first championship after World War II. In 1962, Chile hosted the seventh World Cup. Brazil maintained its title, which no country had done before. While the Caribbean countries could not play a significant role on the world stage, some of the Central American countries did. Mexico attracted attention, peaking in 1970 when the country organized the first,
World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...
in Central America. The
Aztec Stadium Snapdragon Stadium, known during its planning and early construction phases as Aztec Stadium, is an outdoor college football stadium on the west coast of the United States, in San Diego, California. It is located on the campus of San Diego S ...
was the scene of one of the most memorable finals, in which the Italian team was defeated 4–1 by Brazil's "Dream Team". The Italian national newspaper ''
Il Messaggero ''Il Messaggero'' (Italian : "The Messenger") is an Italian newspaper based in Rome, Italy. It has been in circulation since 1878. History and profile ''Il Messaggero'' was founded in December 1878. On 1 January 1879, the first issue of ''Il M ...
'' wrote that Italy had been defeated by "the best footballers in the world." Uruguay was overtaken by Brazil, finishing fourth after losing a semi-final to the ultimate champions. Four years later, the stage was completely European; the five Latin American countries made no impression. In 1978, host country Argentina defeated the Netherlands in the
Final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...
. In subsequent World Cup editions, more countries from both Central and South America enjoyed success. In 1990, all Spanish-speaking countries reached the
round of 16 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...
. This included Spain, which put in a performance similar to that of Uruguay, the country that had caused a stir in the 1930s when it outclassed all the clubs it played in Spain. Mexico has qualified for the World Cup continuously since 1994, reaching the second round each time before being eliminated. Of the first four championships of the 21st century, the least successful for Latin America was the 2006 tournament in Germany, with no country reaching the semi-finals. The
2014 World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...
in Brazil was a Latin American success story, despite European nations taking first and third place. Colombia and Chile made an impression with their strong play. Colombian
James Rodríguez James David Rodríguez Rubio (born 12 July 1991) is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or a winger for Super League Greece club Olympiacos and the Colombia national team. He has been praised in the past ...
was the top scorer, named player of the tournament and awarded a prize for the best goal. Central American nation Costa Rica surprised by surviving the "group of death" to reach the quarterfinals.The term "group of death" is usually relative. When an average is taken of the positions of the four countries in each group, the group containing the strongest teams can be established. In 2014, this was group D, comprising Costa Rica, England, Italy, and Uruguay. Argentina earned a place in the final, where it lost 0–1 to Germany. Host country Brazil was an exception, losing 1–7 to Germany in the semifinals, and 0–3 to the Netherlands in the
third place play-off A third place match, game for third place, bronze medal game or consolation game is a single match that is included in many sporting knockout tournaments to decide which competitor or team will be credited with finishing third and fourth. The tea ...
. At club level, technical gameplay is not as developed, and not as much money is put into football in Latin America as in Europe. The most talented players are scouted and bought by European clubs, which does not stimulate further development or raise the standard of national competition.Latin America’s economic position has a direct impact on its position in the football world. Geographically, Latin America as a region is often represented as peripheral in the world system. The absence of major economic power is related to insufficient investment in the required infrastructure and facilities to create an environment in which football can develop further, including on a financial level: construction of modern stadiums with good pitches, investment in youth education, prevention of
match-fixing In organized sports, match fixing is the act of playing or officiating a match with the intention of achieving a pre-determined result, violating the rules of the game and often the law. There are many reasons why match fixing might take place, ...
, et cetera. The creaming off of talented players and resulting stagnation of development are a consequence of the economic situation. This may begin to change, with Brazil now one of the four BRIC countries and some of the main Latin American countries gaining momentum.
In 2000, FIFA launched a World Cup for clubs, with Brazil as the first host country. The most successful clubs from around the world come together at this tournament. For the first ten editions, Latin American clubs from Central and North America, almost always from Mexico, played no significant role. Brazilian clubs
Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-aut ...
,
São Paulo FC São Paulo Futebol Clube (), commonly referred to as São Paulo, is a professional football club in the Morumbi district of São Paulo, Brazil, founded in 1930. It plays in the Campeonato Paulista (the State of São Paulo's premier state leag ...
, and
Internacional Sport Club Internacional (), commonly known as Internacional or simply Inter, is a Brazilian professional football club based in Porto Alegre. They play in the Série A, the first division of the Brazilian league, as well as in Campeonato ...
won four titles altogether; the other tournaments were won by Western European clubs. Argentina's Independiente won the South American club tournament Copa Libertadores seven times, with another Argentinian club,
Club Atlético Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine sports club headquartered in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its professional football team which, since its promotion in 1913, has always played in the Arge ...
, in second place. For North and Central America and the Caribbean, the equivalent of this tournament is the
CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions League, known officially as the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons, is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF. The tournament is contested by clubs from North Ameri ...
. As at 2014, of the 51 seasons Mexico had emerged as champion 30 times. Promising footballers whose talent had first flourished in Latin America became less and less active domestically, yielding to offers from clubs in Europe. In 1988,
Romário Romário de Souza Faria Figueiredo (born 29 January 1966), known simply as Romário (), is a Brazilian politician and a former professional footballer. A prolific striker renowned for his clinical finishing, he scored over 750 goals and was ...
followed this path, moving from Brazilian club Vasco da Gama to the Dutch PSV, where he scored 98 goals in five seasons. Another example is
Daniel Passarella Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength"), ...
who, a few years after winning the World Cup with Argentina, emigrated to Italy. Brazilian
Ronaldo Ronaldo is a Portuguese given name equivalent to the English Ronald. It became a common name in all Portuguese-speaking countries, being also prevalent in Italy and Spanish-speaking countries. People Notable people known as Ronaldo include: As ...
made his appearance in Europe in 1994, also at PSV. Three years later, in 1997, he became the first Latin American to win the
Ballon d'Or The Ballon d'Or (; ) is an annual football award presented by French news magazine ''France Football'' since 1956. Between 2010 and 2015, in an agreement with FIFA, the award was temporarily merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year (fo ...
, an annual award for the best footballer in Europe. The best footballer in the world in the twentieth century,
Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona (; 30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the FI ...
,Diego Maradona was voted footballer of the century by the public, voting on the FIFA website. He won more than 55% of the vote, ahead of
Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; born 23 October 1940), known as Pelé (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and labelled "the greatest" by FIFA, ...
with nearly 40%. In the same vote, selected experts from all over the world chose Pele.
scored 115 goals in seven years at
SSC Napoli Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli, commonly referred to as Napoli (), is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in the city of Naples ( it, Napoli, nap, Napule), Camp ...
. CONMEBOL has ten national association members: 30% of its federations have won the FIFA World Cup (men's tournament): Argentina (3), Brazil (5), Uruguay (2), with Uruguay supposedly receiving recognition from FIFA for winning the 1924 and 1928 Olympics, counting as men's world championships, which explains why FIFA permits Uruguay to represent 4 stars on their world cup jersey. By comparison, UEFA has 55 member associations with 5 members winning the FIFA World Cup for a total of 12 trophies. While being smaller, CONMEBOL appears to have a similar number of FIFA men's championship trophies as UEFA, which suggests that its success rate in the international game exceeds its weight within the overall FIFA membership population --CONMEBOL having less than 10% of FIFA national association members, performs above its representation within FIFA by winning nearly 50% of FIFA men's championships, while it seems to be the confederation with the largest proportion of its membership (30%) winning world cups. Similar comparisons for South American men in international soccer at club level (playing with European, South American, North American clubs) would likely yield similar results, showing South American soccer players winning a disproportionate number of titles in relation to their actual percentage of the overall soccer population of men. During the historical period covered in this article, South America became a center of soccer development, receiving European influences, and then becoming an influence on the rest of the world game at the level of clubs --for instance, compare recent MLS (United States) title winning rosters/coaching, or European club winners of international trophies showing South American contributors.


Playing Style


Initial game conception

In the decades after the introduction of football to Latin America, an individual playing style developed. In the early days almost all players were of British origin, with a British concept of the sport. This style of play placed greater value on sportsmanship and fair play than passion and a fighting spirit. Typical was the Argentine
Alumni Athletic Club Alumni Athletic Club, or simply Alumni, was an Argentine football team active during the first years of the sport in that country. Although officially founded in 1898, the team had been formed in 1893 when a group of students from the Buenos Air ...
, which refused to take a
penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...
because the players felt the referee had wrongly awarded it to them. Playing by the rules was of primary importance. In Britain and elsewhere, the so-called 2–3–5 system was used, featuring two defenders, three midfielders, and five attackers. For a long time, no club in Latin America deviated from this format, as it was the global standard. British domination of football culture gradually declined on all fronts, including in its influence on style of play. Strength and discipline gave way to agility, perhaps due to the increasing influence of Spanish and Italian immigrants. Where in Britain there were large fields, in Latin America football was played in poor neighborhoods with little available space, usually on rough ground. In the streets and small squares in the neighborhoods of cities like Buenos Aires, Montevideo and Rio de Janeiro, a new way of playing developed to suit the poor living and playing conditions. Players wanted precise control of the ball and learned all kinds of tricks to achieve this. Disciplined teamwork disappeared, the player alone knocking out his opponent to create additional space for himself. The first generation of this type of footballer called the style ''el toque'', or "touch", as though stroking the ball. This new game concept conflicted with the old British standard. The Nottingham Forest F.C. tour of Argentina and Uruguay in 1905 exemplified the differences. The English club, with its textbook original gameplay, caused mixed feelings among the players and spectators at a match with a representative local team. While the Argentinian players tried to win through skill and cleverness, the British showed off their physical playing style. Supporters of European descent were enthusiastic about Nottingham's play, and its dominance, while the local population felt wronged by the disdain shown towards their own players' ball skills. The English-language, anglophile ''
Buenos Aires Herald The ''Buenos Aires Herald'' was an English language daily newspaper published in Buenos Aires, Argentina from 1876 to 2017. Its slogan was ''A World of Information in a few words''. History Under the original name of ''The Buenos Ayres Herald'', ...
'' reproached the representative team that "had dared to criticize Forest's play", writing that the sport was intended to improve the endurance of its practitioners and to test the fitness of young men, and that it was no parlor game. English
Swindon Town F.C. Swindon Town Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at ...
, which toured South America seven years later, was one of the few clubs open to the new game concept. Its manager acknowledged that he had never seen amateurs play so well, and generally praised the local opponents, although he was also concerned at the "use of every opportunity to exhibit solo agility." Some of the Anglo-Argentine footballers also adopted this attitude towards the new playing style. Among them was
Jorge Brown Jorge Gibson Brown (3 April 1880 – 3 January 1936) was an Argentine footballer of Scottish ancestry, who was one of the most important figures in the early years of the sport in that country.shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missiles can ...
for goals.


First World Cup success

In 1924, Uruguay's football team traveled to France to showcase its game. Despite its success in Spain, spectators were not impressed with the style of play. Only 3,000 people attended the first match against Yugoslavia. After the 7–0 victory over the Yugoslavs, news of the Latin American prowess spread rapidly in Paris. The second-round 3–0 win against the United States attracted 10,000 supporters, made curious by the enthusiastic stories of the New World unknowns. On June 1, 1924, Uruguay met the French team in the quarterfinals. Over 40,000 spectators attended the match, which was the first confrontation with a Western European team. The French players, like the British, were masters of the long, high
pass Pass, PASS, The Pass or Passed may refer to: Places *Pass, County Meath, a townland in Ireland * Pass, Poland, a village in Poland *Pass, an alternate term for a number of straits: see List of straits *Mountain pass, a lower place in a mountai ...
, and were able to cover long distances relatively fast. The Uruguayan players, in contrast, were experts in the short, quick pass, and were able to
dribble In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. A ...
at high speed. South American agility won over European physicality: Uruguay defeated the host country easily, going on to win its next two matches, again against European opponents. At the 1924 Olympic Games, in addition to sport, various music and art competitions were held. Some musicians and writers sought inspiration from play in the football tournament. French essayist and novelist
Henry de Montherlant Henry Marie Joseph Frédéric Expedite Millon de Montherlant (; 20 April 1895 – 21 September 1972) was a French essayist, novelist, and dramatist. He was elected to the Académie française in 1960. Biography Born in Paris, a descendant o ...
, in one of his works, said of Uruguay's success, "A revelation! This is real football. In comparison, what we knew so far, what we played was nothing but the hobby of a schoolboy". Even skeptics had to acknowledge the seemingly unapproachable style of play. The then former French international player and later editor of ''
L'Équipe ''L'Équipe'' (, French for "the team") is a French nationwide daily newspaper devoted to sport, owned by Éditions Philippe Amaury. The paper is noted for coverage of association football, rugby football, rugby, motorsport, and cycle sport, ...
'', Gabriel Hanot, said of the difference between Uruguayan and British football that it was "like comparing an Arabian thoroughbred with a workhorse". After the 1928 Olympic final Argentina and Uruguay met again, at the first World Cup final in 1930. Argentina lost 4–2. The media, trying to identify what differed between the two neighboring countries, concluded that the Uruguayan defense was better structured than Argentina's. Both countries played with their usual spontaneity and artistry, but Uruguay also kept
defense Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense industr ...
in mind, where Argentina's individualistic style generated more confusion. Its defenders were no less capable than Uruguay's, but they lacked the tactical skill to intercept opposing attackers. An Italian journalist commented that although Argentina played graceful football, it was unable to succeed without compensating tactics. Argentina had not yet mastered an essential aspect of tactical play, and so lacked balance between attacking speed and agility on the one hand, and structured, well-conceived thought defense on the other. Throughout Latin America, British influence had almost disappeared. The European style was no longer considered obligatory, but rather as a way of playing football to compete against and to overcome. Discipline and structure were present, especially in Uruguayan football, but to a lesser extent than in Western Europe. The so-called ''
Rioplatense Rioplatense Spanish (), also known as Rioplatense Castilian, is a variety of Spanish spoken mainly in and around the Río de la Plata Basin of Argentina and Uruguay. It is also referred to as River Plate Spanish or Argentine Spanish. It is the ...
'' footballThe term '' Rioplatense'' is often used to designate Argentina and Uruguay, which border on and are separated by the Río de la Plata. In this image, the Uruguayan capital, Montevideo, is visible at the upper left (north of the river), and Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, is at bottom right. pulled crowds: fanaticism, unpredictability, sportsmanship, and speed attracted spectators in their masses to the stadiums. The difference with the Western football became increasingly apparent.


Brazilian style


Initial failure

As elsewhere in Latin America, Brazilian footballers learned to move individually and combine intelligently with fellow players. This combined football was reinforced by the influence of the Scottish Wanderers, founded in 1912 by Scottish immigrants. In Brazil, pairing this with other tactics to outplay the opponent was, remarkably, known as the ''sistema inglês'' ("
English system English units are the units of measurement used in England up to 1826 (when they were replaced by Imperial units), which evolved as a combination of the Anglo-Saxon and Roman systems of units. Various standards have applied to English units at ...
"), when it was at odds with the British way of playing. Two Wanderers players were known nationally for their striking game. McLean and Hopkins played together on the
left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right * L ...
, performing series of quick and short passes, soon named ''tabelinha'' ( "small graphics"). Although the Wanderers' playing style was considered too innovative, even revolutionary, the local footballers adopted it, over time achieving success. In contrast to Argentina and Uruguay, where British influence declined rapidly, in Brazil the British community retained the most say in football culture for a relatively long time. Harry Welfare, who played for
Liverpool F.C. Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has p ...
before going to Rio de Janeiro to get started as a coach, taught the
Fluminense FC Fluminense Football Club (), known as Fluminense, is a Brazilian sports club best known for its professional football team that competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the first tier of Brazilian football and the Campeonato Carioca, ...
players deep and wide passing technique. The members of these, and other, football clubs were exclusively Europeans. Welfare therefore did not explicitly introduce his game views to the local population. Brazilians did see the gameplay, however, watching training sessions from the roofs of buildings surrounding the football fields. For the local population, football proved a godsend. Cricket was difficult to play in the tight spaces of residential areas, but football was a possibility. Using homemade balls consisting mainly of collections of rags, they began to play in informal football parties. The Scot, McLean, was not impressed, voicing his dissatisfaction at the lack of discipline and convinced that "their antics in Scotland would never be accepted". Despite their "genius and individual spontaneity", Brazilian players were not successful abroad with their game. Unsurprisingly, given the inexperienced players of the selection, Brazil was rapidly eliminated from the first world tournament. Four years later, lack of experience was no longer a valid excuse. Although the squad had some very talented players, including
Leônidas Leônidas da Silva (; 6 September 1913 – 24 January 2004) was a Brazilian professional footballer who played as a forward. He is regarded as one of the most important players of the first half of the 20th century. Leônidas played for Brazi ...
, who soon afterward became one of the first black footballers to join the elite CR Flamengo, it suffered the consequences of its naivety and inadequate preparation. The 8–4 loss in a friendly match against Yugoslavia, following the unsuccessful World Cup of 1934, made it painfully clear that at a tactical level Brazil lagged significantly behind not only its Latin American opponents but also the Eastern European countries. The biggest problem was the spaces between the lines: In football terminology, a "line" refers to the tactical disposition of a row of football players on a field. Normally there are three lines: defense, midfield and attack. In a specific gaming system, the number of players per line is specified. For example, a "5-3-2 system", with five defenders, three midfielders and two strikers. When the spaces between the lines are too big, usually this refers to lines which allow too much space for the opponents in that part of the field. the Yugoslav team was able to use the large unoccupied areas of the field to deploy their own tactics, and without difficulty regularly breached the Brazilian midfield and defense. The Brazilian football community came to the realization that changes to its style of play were needed.


Development and success

At the end of the 1930s, the previously unknown Brazilian Gentil Cardoso, who, as a jack-of-all-trades, had regularly travelled to Europe and devoted his free time to watching football, tried to introduce a new tactical system. He had witnessed the emergence of the so-called
WM formation In association football, the formation of a team refers to the position players take in relation to each other on a pitch. As association football is a fluid and fast-moving game, a player's position (with the exception of the goalkeeper) in a ...
with English club
Arsenal F.C. Arsenal Football Club, commonly referred to as Arsenal, is a professional football club based in Islington, London, England. Arsenal plays in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The club has won 13 league titles (inclu ...
, and saw this as the solution to the Brazilian football problem. In this system, the attackers deploy in a "W" formation, and the midfielders and defenders in an "M" formation" (3-2-2-3). This can be seen in the tactical set-up for the final between Brazil and Uruguay in 1950 (see right). The outside defenders, or full-backs, (in this arrangement, Bigode and Augusto) cover the wing-backs of the opposing team. The inner defense or half-backs (here Danilo and Bauer) face the back line of three defenders and counter attackers trying to breach the midfield defense; the
stopper Stopper may refer to: * Bung, a plug used to stop the opening of a container ** Laboratory rubber stopper, a specific type of bung * Plug (sanitation), used to stop a drainage outlet * Defender (association football), in soccer (association footba ...
, or
centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...
, (in this arrangement, Juvenal) stands between the two outside defenders and has the primary task of dealing with the opposing middle attacker or
inside forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...
. Cardoso managed to secure a position as coach of a small Rio de Janeiro club. He introduced the formation and trained the players in it, but saw that the game did not correspond to the British variant that he had seen. Copying the British style of play turned out to be just not possible. Cardoso's attempt failed. Brazil needed a European in order to achieve a definitive change in playing style, and found him in the form of Hungarian
Izidor Kürschner Izidor "Dori" Kürschner, in Brazil primarily known as Dori Kruschner, (29 June 1885 – 8 December 1941), was a Hungarian football player and coach. As player he was successful with Budapest club MTK, and also played for the Hungary nation ...
. Kürschner accepted the offer made by the president of CR Flamengo in 1937, although he recognized the difficulty of his position as coach faced with the conservative attitude that the Brazilians had now developed in football, following the British example. Cardoso had tried to introduce the British WM formation; Kürschner, who had spent most of his football career in Switzerland, did not share that ambition. While he also called his system WM, the deployment was more of a WW formation. The stopper now played in front of the full-backs. The Hungarian's playing style was not popular, although the Brazilian Football Association asked him to accompany the national team to France in 1938, in the role of advisor. The system did not achieve success in the following years, with the
1950 FIFA World Cup The 1950 FIFA World Cup was the fourth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams and held in Brazil from 24 June to 16 July 1950. The planned 1942 and 1946 World Cups were ...
the lowest point. Strikingly, the Brazilian team defeated opponents using a similar formation, but lost when faced with Uruguay's different tactics. Of note was the fact that Uruguay played with the same defensive intent Brazil had shown when it won the Copa América in 1919. The 1950 failure marked the final demise of the Brazilian WM formation. For years it was applied on the football pitch, but by 1966 it had disappeared from the tactics both of clubs and of the national team. Between 1950 and 1966, Brazil was successful despite concern over its tactics, and won the World Cup in both 1958 and 1962. It had been understood that Brazilian football would sell itself short by choosing tactics over technique. As a result, national coaches gave players a lot of freedom and made the tactical arrangement as flexible as possible. In the 1960s and 1970s, the world's best players often from Brazil. To make the most of the qualities of players like
Garrincha Manuel Francisco dos Santos (28 October 1933 – 20 January 1983), nicknamed Mané Garrincha, best known as simply Garrincha (, "little bird"), was a Brazilian professional footballer who played as a right winger. He is widely regarded as one of ...
and
Valdir Pereira Waldyr Pereira, also known as Didi (; 8 October 1928 – 12 May 2001), was a Brazilian footballer who played as a midfielder or as a forward. He played in three FIFA World Cups ( 1954, 1958, and 1962), winning the latter two and was awarded t ...
, tactics were developed to provide enough room for the creativity and artistry that typified Latin American football. On the evening of the 1970 World Cup Final,
João Saldanha João Alves Jobin Saldanha (3 July 1917 – 12 July 1990) was a Brazilian journalist and football manager. He coached the Brazil national football team during the South American Qualifying to the 1970 FIFA World Cup. Nicknamed ''João Sem Me ...
, head coach during the qualification process, asked why he felt that the football played in Brazil was the best in the world. He suggested it was due to four factors: #Climate, which played an important role because in Brazil football could be played year-round; #Poverty, which had encouraged a competitive spirit in Brazilian youth; #
Ethnic An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
diversity, which he felt was a success factor in Brazilian society as a significant portion of the population was of African descent and had inherited a combative attitude from the past experience of slavery; #A "boundless passion for ''futebol''", vital in achieving success in the second half of the twentieth century. Brazil had only one distinctive football formation, the so-called 4–2–2 system, similar to the WW formation. But the Brazilian tactical approach cannot be reduced to this tactic alone. In 1994, for example, Brazil played with four defenders, four midfielders and two attackers; and in 2014 with five midfielders and one striker, Frederico Chaves Guedes (Fred). Currently, Brazil is not known for any particular formation, but rather for its frivolous and flexible players.


Club Football


National competition

All Central American countries, and the great majority of South American countries In Central America, all countries have a formal system of ''Apertura'' and ''Clausura''. South American countries that use the same system are Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela, as well as Caribbean country Haiti. use a league system with two separate seasons, the ''Apertura'' ("opening") and ''Clausura'' ("closing"). Where in Europe the season runs continuously from autumn to spring (usually from August to May or June), in some Latin American countries the season follows the calendar year. This is the case in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, Paraguay, and Peru, where the season runs from January or February until the end of the year. The rest of Latin America is aligned with the European season. In this system, both the first and the second half of the season yield a winner. In Nicaragua, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela, the two winning teams play each other at the end of the season to determine the ultimate champion. In addition to this general competition structure, with a season played in two separate halves, several countries show slight differences in their approach to
promotion and relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...
and the awarding of the championship title. In the Mexican league, at the beginning of each season the two previous season champions play each other in a small league competition similar to the
Super Cup A super cup is a competition, usually but not exclusively in association football, which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competitions during the prev ...
in European competition. In
Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...
, where the terminology is ''Invierno'' ("winter") and ''Verano'' ("summer") rather than ''Apertura'' and ''Clausura'', the top four teams of the two halves of the season qualify for a second round, in which the overall champion is determined. Brazil does not divide the season into halves. Competition usually takes place from May to December, in accordance with the American seasonal calendar, but follows the same rules as in Europe. The system is fairly recent, as the country only moved from small local tournaments to a national competition in the 1960s and 1970s. The Campeonato Brasileiro is the biggest football competition in Latin America. It contains the greatest number of winners of the Copa Libertadores (clubs in this league have won the Copa seventeen times). Three clubs from the Campeonato have won the
FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The competition was first contested in 200 ...
a total of four times between them. It is the highest valued competition in Latin America, at almost one and a half billion dollars. The football club with the highest
brand value A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...
(as at 2012) was
Sport Club Corinthians Paulista Sport Club Corinthians Paulista () is a Brazilian sports club based in the Tatuapé district of São Paulo. Although competing in a number of different sports, Corinthians is mostly known for its professional association football team that plays ...
, with $77 million; worldwide, this put the club in twenty-fourth place, behind
Everton F.C. Everton Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Liverpool that competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club was a founder member of the Football League in 1888 and has compe ...


International competition

Latin America has several international club competitions, the main tournaments being the
Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...
and
CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions League, known officially as the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons, is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF. The tournament is contested by clubs from North Ameri ...
. Both serve as the qualifiers for the FIFA Club World Cup. In South America, the
Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, named as ''Copa Sudamericana'' (; pt, Copa Sul-Americana ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club competition in South American ...
, equivalent to the European
UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...
, is the secondary tournament. The winner qualifies for the following season's Copa Libertadores. The
Recopa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Recopa Sudamericana ( pt, CONMEBOL Recopa Sul-Americana), known also as the Recopa Sudamericana or CONMEBOL Recopa, and simply as the Recopa (, ; "Winners' Cup"), is an annual international club association football, football compe ...
, between the winners of the Copa Sudamericana and the Copa Libertadores, takes place in South America every year at the beginning of the new season. The CONCACAF region does not have such a system. Instead, the best three clubs in the Caribbean tournament, the
CFU Club Championship The Caribbean Club Championship, also known as the CFU Club Championship or CFU Club Champions' Cup, was an annual international football competition held amongst association football clubs that are members of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU). ...
, qualify for the main draw of the Champions League, and all countries on the Central American mainland are allocated a number of places at the pool stage by default. The most successful South American club is the Argentine club Independiente, with seven victories. Mexico's Cruz Azul has won the CONCACAF Champions League six times. In the Caribbean, most of the winning clubs have been from Trinidad and Tobago. Although Mexican clubs are welcome in the South American club competitions, there is currently no overlap between the two Latin American regions at club level. The two were to be joined in a Pan-American tournament, the Copa Pan-Americana, replacing the two formerly separate international club competitions from 2002. Six Brazilian clubs, and two from Panama and Costa Rica, were registered as participants, but financial difficulties forced the football associations to cancel the plan.


International Football

Both at club level and in international play, Central American football and South American football are treated as distinct entities. South American national teams participate in tournaments with no input from Central America and the Caribbean, and vice versa. There are two football confederations, CONCACAF and CONMEBOL, each holding its own tournaments, so far with no Pan-American tournament (a 1960s
trial In law, a trial is a coming together of Party (law), parties to a :wikt:dispute, dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence (law), evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to Adjudication, adjudicate claims or d ...
was not continued). CONMEBOL organized the first
Copa América The Copa América ( en, America Cup) or CONMEBOL Copa América, known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship (''Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol'' in Spanish and ''Campeonato Sul-Americano de Futebol'' in Portuguese), is the t ...
in 1916, known as the Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol. North America and Central America played in separate championships until the 1970s. CONCACAF brought the two together in the one tournament when it founded the
CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup ( es, Copa de Oro de la CONCACAF, french: Coupe D'or CONCACAF) is the main association football competition of the men's national football teams governed by CONCACAF, determining the continental champion of North Ameri ...
in 1991. In South America, Uruguay won most often; in Central and North America, it was Mexico. Despite the clear separation between the two confederations, both tournaments have a tradition of inviting participants from outside their region. Four CONMEBOL member countries participated in the Gold Cup, and in the Copa América four CONCACAF countries were included. In addition to these two championships, of equivalent status to the European football championship in the UEFA region, qualifiers are held to determine participation of North, Central and South American countries in the World Cup. Unlike Central America, the CONMEBOL region does not apply a system of groups for the qualifiers, as it has a smaller number of member countries.


Rivalries

The most intense rivalry between any two countries at international level is between Argentina and Brazil. These encounters, of which there have been over one hundred, are similar in number to the matches between Argentina and Uruguay, but are now the most intense in South America. This is due not to past political conflict but to these countries being regarded as the greatest footballing nations of the Americas. During the twentieth century, this sporting hostility gave rise to several conflicts, culminating in brawling between players, supporters, and police during the final of the
1946 South American Championship The nineteenth edition of the South American Championship in football was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina from 12 January to 10 February. This tournament, an ''extra'' edition with no trophy handed to the winners, is considered official by CONM ...
. The
Superclásico de las Américas The Superclassic of the Americas ( pt, Superclássico das Américas, es, Superclásico de las Américas), is an annual friendly football match between the national teams of Argentina and Brazil. Established in 2011 and organized by CONMEBOL, ...
, an annual friendly encounter between the national teams of Argentina and Brazil, was held for the first time in 2011. Rivalry between Brazil and Uruguay also burgeoned following the World Cup final of 1950, when millions of Brazilian football fans were traumatized by a 1–2 defeat. In South America, Peru and Chile are also considered traditional rivals; the confrontation between the two nations is known as the Clásico del Pacífico, or Pacific Classic. This rivalry traces back to the 1890s, when the Saltpeter War was fought. In the CONCACAF region, two historic "Clásico" encounters deserve mention. While the Mexico national team is traditionally dominant in North and Central America, in CONCACAF tournaments it is seeing increasing competition from its traditional rival and northern neighbour from outside the Latin American region, the United States. Mexican resolve is strengthened by such events as the
Battle of the Alamo The Battle of the Alamo (February 23 – March 6, 1836) was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna reclaimed the Alamo Mission near San Ant ...
and
Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...
in the nineteenth century, and the treatment of Mexicans living in the United States. Honduras and Costa Rica have been playing each other since April 3, 1935, in encounters known as the Clásico centroamericano, or Central American Classic. The two countries, which played against each other for the 50th time in January 2011, are fairly evenly matched in terms of number of wins, although Costa Rica has been the more successful internationally.


Organization


Domestic


CONMEBOL

*:
Primera División Argentina Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera, Venezuelan musician, compos ...
, governed by the
Argentine Football Association The Argentine Football Association ( es, Asociación del Fútbol Argentino, ; AFA) is the governing body of football in Argentina based in Buenos Aires. It organises the main divisions of Argentine league system (from Primera División to Torn ...
*:
Liga de Fútbol Profesional Boliviano Liga or LIGA may refer to: People * Līga (name), a Latvian female given name * Luciano Ligabue, more commonly known as Ligabue or ''Liga'', Italian rock singer-songwriter Sports * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * Liga ...
, governed by the
Bolivian Football Federation The Bolivian Football Federation ( es, Federación Boliviana de Fútbol, ; FBF) is the governing body of football in Bolivia. It was founded in 1925, making it the eighth oldest South American federation. It affiliated to CONMEBOL and FIFA in 192 ...
*:
Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (; English: "Brazilian Championship A Series"), commonly referred to as the Brasileirão (; English: "Big Brazilian"), and also known as Brasileirão Assaí due to sponsorship with Assaí Atacadista, is a Br ...
, governed by the
Brazilian Football Confederation The Brazilian Football Confederation ( pt, Confederação Brasileira de Futebol; CBF) is the governing body of football in Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country ...
*:
Primera División de Chile Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera Alí Rafael Primera Rosel ...
, governed by the
Chilean Football Federation The Football Federation of Chile ( es, Federación de Fútbol de Chile or ) is the governing body of association football, football in Chile. It was founded 19 June 1895, making it the second oldest South American association football federation, ...
*:
Categoría Primera A The Categoría Primera A (), commonly referred to as Liga BetPlay Dimayor (between 2015 and 2019 ''Liga Águila'') due to sponsorship by online betting company BetPlay, is a Colombian professional league for association football clubs. It is the ...
, governed by the
Colombian Football Federation The Colombian Football Federation (in es, Federación Colombiana de Fútbol) is the governing body of football in Colombia. It was founded in 1924 and has been affiliated to FIFA since 1936. It is a member of CONMEBOL and is in charge of the Col ...
*:
Campeonato Ecuatoriano de Fútbol The Liga Pro Betcris, simply known as the Liga Pro, or the Serie A, is a professional football league in Ecuador. At the top of the Ecuadorian football league system, it is the country's premier football competition. Contested by sixteen clubs, i ...
, governed by the
Ecuadorian Football Federation The Ecuadorian Football Federation ( es, Federación Ecuatoriana de Fútbol or ) is the governing body of football in Ecuador. Its headquarters are in Quito, and it organizes the country's various football competitions and oversees the Ecuador ...
*:
Primera División Paraguaya Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera, Venezuelan musician, compos ...
, governed by the
Paraguayan Football Association The Paraguayan Football Association ( es, Asociación Paraguaya de Futbol ; APF) ( Guarani: ''Paraguái Mangapy Atyguasu''), is the omnibus governing body of football in Paraguay. It organizes the Paraguayan football league, including futsal a ...
*: Torneo Descentralizado, organized by the
Peruvian Football Federation The Peruvian Football Federation ( es, Federación Peruana de Futbol or ) is the body that governs Association football in Peru. It was founded on August 23, 1922, and affiliated in 1924. A member of CONMEBOL since 1925, it directly oversees the ...
*:
Campeonato Uruguayo de Fútbol The Uruguayan football league system is a series of interconnected football leagues for clubs in Uruguay, and is organized by the Uruguayan Football Association at the national level. The Uruguayan League is organized by the Uruguayan Football Ass ...
, governed by the
Uruguayan Football Association The Uruguayan Football Association ( es, Asociación Uruguaya de Fútbol — ) is the governing body of football in Uruguay. It was founded in 1900, as The Uruguayan Association Football League, and affiliated to FIFA in 1923. It is a founding me ...
*:
Primera División Venezolana Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera, Venezuelan musician, compos ...
, governed by the
Venezuelan Football Federation The Venezuelan Football Federation ( es, link=no, Federación Venezolana de Fútbol or FVF) is the governing body of Association football, football in Venezuela. It was founded in 1925 and affiliated in 1952. It is a member of CONMEBOL as wel ...


CONCACAF

*:
GFF National Super League Guyana Football Federation (GFF) National Super League was the top division in Guyana. It was replaced by the GFF Elite League beginning with the 2015–16 season. The league used regional qualifying tournaments to determine participants. In i ...
, organized by the
Guyana Football Federation The Guyana Football Federation is the governing body of football in Guyana. It controls the Guyana national football team The Guyana national football team, nicknamed the ''Golden Jaguars'', represents Guyana in international football and i ...
*: Suriname Hoofdklasse, organized by the
Surinaamse Voetbal Bond The Surinamese Football Association ( nl, Surinaamse Voetbal Bond ) is the governing body of football in Suriname. It organizes the Surinamese football league system, the Surinamese Cup, Suriname President's Cup, Suriname national football team ...
* ''
French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...
'':
French Guiana Championnat National French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...
, organized by the French Guiana Football LeagueFrench Guiana is in italics as it is a French
overseas department The overseas departments and regions of France (french: départements et régions d'outre-mer, ; ''DROM'') are departments of France that are outside metropolitan France, the European part of France. They have exactly the same status as mainlan ...
and so cannot affiliate with
FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
.


International

*
FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The competition was first contested in 200 ...


CONCACAF

*
CFU Club Championship The Caribbean Club Championship, also known as the CFU Club Championship or CFU Club Champions' Cup, was an annual international football competition held amongst association football clubs that are members of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU). ...
*
CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions League, known officially as the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons, is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF. The tournament is contested by clubs from North Ameri ...


CONMEBOL

*
Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...
, major club competition of South America, with the champions (except
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
, a CONCACAF member) qualifying for the FIFA Club World Cup *
Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, named as ''Copa Sudamericana'' (; pt, Copa Sul-Americana ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club competition in South American ...
, second major club competition of South America, with the champions qualifying for the Copa Libertadores. *
Recopa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Recopa Sudamericana ( pt, CONMEBOL Recopa Sul-Americana), known also as the Recopa Sudamericana or CONMEBOL Recopa, and simply as the Recopa (, ; "Winners' Cup"), is an annual international club association football, football compe ...
, the meeting of the Copa Libertadores and the Copa Sudamericana champions. If the same team wins both, no Recopa is played. *
Suruga Bank Championship The J.League Cup / Copa Sudamericana Championship was an annual intercontinental football match held in Japan, contested by the reigning champions of the J.League Cup and the Copa Sudamericana. The tournament was previously officially called the ...
, with the Copa Sudamericana and
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
's
J. League Cup The is a Japanese Association football, football (soccer) competition organized by J.League. It has been sponsored by Yamazaki Biscuits (YBC) of Yamazaki Baking (formerly Yamazaki Nabisco) since its inception in 1992. It is also known as the or ...
champions, played in Japan.


Development


Argentina


Bolivia


Brazil


Chile


Colombia


Ecuador


Paraguay


Peru


Uruguay


Venezuela


Economics


Culture


Notes


References


External links

{{Football in South America