CONMEBOL

CONMEBOL ( ) or CSF (; ; ), is the continental governing body of football in South America and it is one of FIFA's six continental confederations. The oldest continental confederation in the world, its headquarters are located in Luque, Paraguay. CONMEBOL is responsible for the organization and governance of South American football's major international tournaments. With 10 member football associations, it has the fewest members of all the confederations in FIFA.

CONMEBOL national teams have won ten FIFA World Cups (Brazil five, Argentina three and Uruguay two) and CONMEBOL clubs have won 22 Intercontinental Cups and four FIFA Club World Cups. Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay have won two Olympic gold medals each.

The World Cup qualifiers of CONMEBOL have been described as the "toughest qualifiers in the world" for their simple round-robin system, entry of some of the top national teams in the world, leveling of the weaker national teams, climate and geographic conditions, strong home stands and passionate supporters.

Juan Ángel Napout (Paraguay) was the president of CONMEBOL until 3 December 2015 when he was arrested in a raid in Switzerland as part of the U.S. Justice Department's bribery case involving FIFA. Wilmar Valdez (Uruguay) was interim president until 26 January 2016 when Alejandro Domínguez (Paraguay) was elected president. The vice presidents are Ramón Jesurún (Colombia), Laureano González (Venezuela) and Arturo Salah (Chile).

History

In 1916, the first edition of the "Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol" (South-American Football Championship), later known as the " Copa América", was contested in Argentina to commemorate the centenary of the Argentine Declaration of Independence. The four participating associations of that tournament gathered in Buenos Aires in order to officially create a governing body to facilitate the organization of the tournament. Thus, CONMEBOL was founded on 9 July 1916 under the initiative of Uruguayan Héctor Rivadavia Gómez, but approved by the football associations of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay. The first Constitutional Congress on 15 December of that same year, which took place in Montevideo, ratified the decision.

Over the years, the other football associations in South America joined, with the last being Venezuela in 1952. Guyana, Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana, while geographically in South America, are not part of CONMEBOL. Consisting of a former British territory, a former Dutch territory and a French territory, they are part of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF), mainly due to historical, cultural, and sporting reasons as members of the "Caribbean" rimlands. With ten member nations, CONMEBOL is the smallest and the only fully continental land-based FIFA confederation (no insular countries or associates from different continents).

Leadership

Executive committee

Past presidents

;Notes

Members

There are sovereign states or dependencies in South America which are not affiliated with CONMEBOL but are members of other confederations or do not have affiliation with any other confederations at all.
* (CONCACAF)
* (CONCACAF)
* (CONCACAF)
*
* (CONCACAF)
* (CONCACAF)
* (CONCACAF)
* (CONCACAF)
*
*

Competitions

CONMEBOL competitions

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

; Clubs:
* Copa Libertadores
* Copa Sudamericana
* Recopa Sudamericana
* Copa Libertadores Femenina
* Copa Libertadores de Futsal
* Copa Libertadores Femenina de Futsal
* Copa Libertadores de Fútbol Playa
* U-20 Copa Libertadores

; Defunct:
* Supercopa Libertadores
* Copa CONMEBOL
* South American Championship of Champions
* Copa Ganadores de Copa
* Copa de Oro
* Copa Mercosur
* Copa Merconorte
* Copa Master de Supercopa
* Copa Master de CONMEBOL
* FIFA Futsal World Cup qualifiers
* FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualifiers

; Intercontinental:
* CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions
* UEFA–CONMEBOL Club Challenge
* Women's Finalissima
* Futsal Finalissima
* Under-20 Intercontinental Cup

; Defunct:
* J.League Cup / Copa Sudamericana Championship
* Intercontinental Champions' Supercup
* Copa Interamericana
* Copa Iberoamericana (set to return in 2024)
* Intercontinental Cup

International

The main competition for men's national teams is the Copa América, which started in 1916. The Copa America is the only continental competition in which teams from a completely different continent and confederation can be invited to participate. CONMEBOL usually selects and invites a couple of teams from the AFC or CONCACAF to participate in the Copa America. Japan and Qatar were invited to participate in the 2019 edition of the Copa America. CONMEBOL also runs national competitions at Under-20, Under-17 and Under-15 levels. For women's national teams, CONMEBOL operates the Copa América Femenina for senior national sides, as well as Under-20 and Under-17 championships.

In futsal, there is the Copa América de Futsal and Campeonato Sudamericano de Futsal Sub-20. The Campeonato Sudamericano Femenino de Futsal is the women's equivalent to the men's tournament.

Club

CONMEBOL also runs the two main club competitions in South America: the Copa Libertadores was first held in 1960 and the Copa Sudamericana was launched by CONMEBOL in 2002 as an indirect successor to the Supercopa Libertadores (begun in 1988). A third competition, the Copa CONMEBOL, started in 1992 and was abolished in 1999. In women's football, CONMEBOL also conducts the Copa Libertadores Femenina for club teams. The competition was first held in 2009.

The Recopa Sudamericana is an annual match between the past year's winners of the Copa Libertadores and the winners of the Copa Sudamericana (previously the winners of the Supercopa Libertadores) and came into being in 1989.

The Intercontinental Cup was jointly organized with UEFA between the Copa Libertadores and the UEFA Champions League winners.

Current title holders

FIFA World Rankings

Overview

Historical leaders

;Men's

ImageSize = width:150 height:700
PlotArea = left:40 right:0 bottom:5 top:10
DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy
Period = from:08/08/1993 till:18/08/2024
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:1994
TimeAxis = orientation:vertical format:yyyy

Colors =
id:ARG value:skyblue
id:COL value:orange
id:BRA value:yellow
id:URU value:blue

PlotData=
bar:Leaders width:25 mark:(line,black) align:left fontsize:S

from:08/08/1993 till:23/09/1993 shift:(20,-5) text:"Argentina" color:ARG
from:23/09/1993 till:21/11/2001 shift:(20,-3) text:"Brazil" color:BRA
from:21/11/2001 till:17/04/2002 shift:(20,-5) text:"Argentina" color:ARG
from:17/04/2002 till:14/03/2007 shift:(20,-3) text:"Brazil" color:BRA
from:14/03/2007 till:16/05/2007 shift:(20,-5) text:"Argentina" color:ARG
from:16/05/2007 till:19/09/2007 shift:(20,-3) text:"Brazil" color:BRA
from:19/09/2007 till:02/07/2008 shift:(20,-5) text:"Argentina" color:ARG
from:02/07/2008 till:09/03/2011 shift:(20,-3) text:"Brazil" color:BRA
from:09/03/2011 till:13/04/2011 shift:(20,-5) text:"Argentina" color:ARG
from:13/04/2011 till:24/08/2011 shift:(20,-3) text:"Brazil" color:BRA
from:24/08/2011 till:03/09/2012 shift:(20,-6) text:"Uruguay" color:URU
from:03/09/2012 till:04/07/2013 shift:(20,-5) text:"Argentina" color:ARG
from:04/07/2013 till:12/09/2013 shift:(20,-5) text:"Colombia" color:COL
from:12/09/2013 till:10/04/2014 shift:(20,-5) text:"Argentina" color:ARG
from:10/04/2014 till:08/05/2014 shift:(20,-5) text:"Colombia" color:COL
from:08/05/2014 till:17/07/2014 shift:(20,-3) text:"Brazil" color:BRA
from:17/07/2014 till:09/03/2017 shift:(20,-5) text:"Argentina" color:ARG
from:09/03/2017 till:30/04/2023 shift:(20,-3) text:"Brazil" color:BRA
from:30/04/2023 till:end shift:(20,-3) text:"Argentina" color:ARG

Team of the year

Other rankings

Clubs

Football Database rankings

Last updated: 1 January 2025

IFFHS

Last updated on: 1 January 2025  �

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Beach soccer national teams

Men's update: 31 January 2022.

Major tournament records

;Legend
*  – Champion
*  – Runner-up
*  – Third placeThere was no Third Place match in 1930; The United States and Yugoslavia lost in the semi-finals. FIFA recognizes th
United States
as the third-placed team an

as the fourth-placed team using the overall records of the teams in th


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

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

FIFA World Cup

FIFA Women's World Cup

Olympic Games

Men's tournament

Women's tournament

Copa América

Copa América Femenina

FIFA U-20 World Cup

FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup

FIFA U-17 World Cup

FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup

FIFA Futsal World Cup

FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

Former tournaments

FIFA Confederations Cup

Corruption

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

See also

* CONMEBOL Jubilee Awards
* List of association football competitions
* International Federation of Association Football (FIFA)
* Union of European Football Associations (UEFA)
* Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF)
* Confederation of African Football (CAF)
* Asian Football Confederation (AFC)
* Oceania Football Confederation (OFC)

Notes

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conmebol


Sports organisations of Paraguay
Sports organizations established in 1916
Central Department
FIFA confederations
1916 establishments in South America
Sport in Luque