Uruguay and its history in the CONMEBOL Copa América

The CONMEBOL Copa America is the most important international tournament in South America. The first edition was hosted in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1916 and the Oriental Republic of Uruguay hosted the second one. The “Celeste” team won the first two editions of the tournament. At first, the competition was called “Campeonato Sudamericano” (South American Championship). However, in 1975, the name definitely changed for the one that is currently being used.

Having won 15 titles, Uruguay is one of the most winning national teams, as well as Argentina. The national teams that follow this list are: Brazil (9); Paraguay, Chile and Peru (2); and Colombia and Bolivia (1).

Some fun facts that stand out about the “Celeste” team are:

• It is one of the two national teams that has won three times in a row, together with the Argentina national team (1916-1917; 1923-1924; 1983-1987).
• The Uruguayan player, Severino Varela, is the top scorer in the history of his country in the tournament, with 15 goals scored in 15 matches played.
• Javier Ambrois, who scored nine goals in the 1957 edition of the tournament, is together with Humberto Maschio (Argentina) and Jair (Brazil), the players who have scored the most goals in the same edition.
• With a total of 23 games, Ángel Romano is the Charrua player who has played the most matches in the tournament, followed by Roberto Porta (20).
• 10 Uruguayan football players have been chosen the top scorers of each edition that they had participated in: Isabelino Gradìn (1916); Ángel Romano (1917 and 1920); José Pérez (1920); Pedro Petrone (1923, 1924 and 1927); Roberto Figueroa (1927); Héctor Scarone (1927); José María Medina (1946); Nicolás Falero (1947); Javier Ambrois (1957) and Carlos Aguilera (1983).
• It is the only national team to have won the FIFA Fair Play Award twice.
• Three Uruguayan players were chosen as the best players of each edition that they had participated in: Rubén Sosa (1989), Enzo Francescoli (1995) and Luis Suárez (2011).
• In total, the Uruguay national team played 206 games in the tournament, with a total of 112 wins, 38 draws and 56 losses.