CONMEBOL


The South American Football Confederation 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, near Asunción. CONMEBOL is responsible for the organization and governance of South American football's major international tournaments. With 10 member football associations, it has the fewest members of all the confederations in FIFA.
CONMEBOL national teams have won nine FIFA World Cups, and CONMEBOL clubs have won 22 Intercontinental Cups and four FIFA Club World Cups. Argentina and Uruguay have won two Olympic gold medals each, and Brazil has won one Olympic gold medal. It is considered one of the strongest confederations in the world.
The World Cup qualifiers of CONMEBOL have been described as the "toughest qualifiers in the world" for their simple round-robin system, entry of some of the top national teams in the world, leveling of the weaker national teams, climate conditions, geographic conditions, strong home stands, and passionate supporters. Currently, the Confederation is planning to create the first women's qualification to the FIFA Women's World Cup to replace the Copa América Femenina.
Juan Ángel Napout was the 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 was interim president until 26 January 2016 when Alejandro Domínguez was elected president. The Vice presidents are Ramón Jesurum, Laureano González, and Arturo Salah.

History

In 1916, the first edition of the "Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol", now known as the "Copa América", was contested in Argentina to commemorate the centenary of the Argentine Declaration of Independence. The four participating associations of that tournament gathered together in 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 French territory, a former British territory, and a former Dutch territory, they are part of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football, mainly due to historical, cultural, and sporting reasons. With ten member nations, CONMEBOL is the smallest and the only fully continental land-based FIFA confederation.

Leadership

Executive Committee

Past presidents

List of FIFA country codes|AssociationFoundedJoinedNational teamTop division
ARG18931916Superliga Argentina
BOL19251926División Profesional
BRA19141916Campeonato Brasileiro Série A
CHI18951916Primera División
COL19241936Primera A
ECU19251927Serie A
PAR19061921División Profesional
PER19221925Primera División
URU19001916Primera División
VEN19261952Primera División

Competitions

CONMEBOL competitions

National teams:
Clubs:
;Defunct
Inter Continental:
;Defunct
The main competition for men's national teams is the Copa América, started in 1916. CONMEBOL also runs national competitions at Under-20, Under-17 and Under-15 levels. For women's national teams, CONMEBOL operates the Copa América Femenina for senior national sides, as well as Under-20 and Under-17 championships.
In futsal, there is the Copa América de Futsal and Campeonato Sudamericano de Futsal Sub-20. The Campeonato Sudamericano Femenino de Futsal is the women's equivalent to the man's tournament.

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. A third competition, the Copa CONMEBOL, started in 1992 and was abolished in 1999. In women's football, CONMEBOL also conducts the Copa Libertadores Femenina for club teams. The competition was first held in 2009.
The Recopa Sudamericana pits the past year's winners of the Copa Libertadores against the winners of the Copa Sudamericana and came into being in 1989.
The Intercontinental Cup was jointly organised with UEFA between the Copa Libertadores and the UEFA Champions League winners.

Current title holders

Rankings

National teams

Top ranked men's national teams


ImageSize = width:150 height:700
PlotArea = left:40 right:0 bottom:5 top:10
DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy
Period = from:08/08/1993 till:24/10/2019
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:1994
TimeAxis = orientation:vertical format:yyyy
Colors =
id:ARG value:blue
id:COL value:red
id:BRA value:yellow
id:URU value:white
PlotData=
bar:Leaders width:25 mark: align:left fontsize:S
from:08/08/1993 till:23/09/1993 shift: text:"Argentina" color:ARG
from:23/09/1993 till:21/11/2001 shift: text:"Brazil" color:BRA
from:21/11/2001 till:17/04/2002 shift: text:"Argentina" color:ARG
from:17/04/2002 till:14/03/2007 shift: text:"Brazil" color:BRA
from:14/03/2007 till:16/05/2007 shift: text:"Argentina" color:ARG
from:16/05/2007 till:19/09/2007 shift: text:"Brazil" color:BRA
from:19/09/2007 till:02/07/2008 shift: text:"Argentina" color:ARG
from:02/07/2008 till:09/03/2011 shift: text:"Brazil" color:BRA
from:09/03/2011 till:13/04/2011 shift: text:"Argentina" color:ARG
from:13/04/2011 till:24/08/2011 shift: text:"Brazil" color:BRA
from:24/08/2011 till:03/09/2012 shift: text:"Uruguay" color:URU
from:03/09/2012 till:04/07/2013 shift: text:"Argentina" color:ARG
from:04/07/2013 till:12/09/2013 shift: text:"Colombia" color:COL
from:12/09/2013 till:10/04/2014 shift: text:"Argentina" color:ARG
from:10/04/2014 till:08/05/2014 shift: text:"Colombia" color:COL
from:08/05/2014 till:17/07/2014 shift: text:"Brazil" color:BRA
from:17/07/2014 till:09/03/2017 shift: text:"Argentina" color:ARG
from:09/03/2017 till:end shift: text:"Brazil" color:BRA


* Inactive for more than 18 months and therefore not ranked

Men's update: 20 February 2020

Women's update: 27 March 2020

Clubs

Football Database rankings

Last updated: 5 April 2020

IFFHS

Last updated on: 12 March 2019 –

Beach soccer national teams

Men's update: 23 September 2018

Major tournament records

;Legend
For each tournament, the flag of the host country and the number of teams in each finals tournament are shown.

FIFA World Cup

FIFA Women's World Cup

Olympic Games For Men

Olympic Games For Women

Copa América

Copa América Femenina

FIFA U-20 World Cup

FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup

FIFA U-17 World Cup

FIFA Futsal World Cup

FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

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.