Uruguay They are the eternal winners of international football, consistently obtaining good results in tournaments despite having a population of just 3.5 million.
They won the first edition of the tournament on their way to adding six of the first nine and 15 in total, a record they share with Argentina.
Like Uruguay, Argentina They had most of their success before the tournament was renamed the South American Football Championship in 1975, winning 12 of its 15 trophies before 1960. In 2021, however, they have the trophy in their hands again, inspired by Messi, who was seven years old when Argentina won the competition previously in 1993.
Over the past three decades, Brazil have been the dominant team in South America, taking five of their nine trophies since ending a 40-year drought in 1989. They were back-to-back winners in 1997, 1999, 2004 and 2007, thanks to a golden generation of Brazilian talent including Ballon d’Or winners Ronaldo (not the Portugal superstar), Rivaldo, Ronaldinho and Kaká.
Chili They had a golden run in the mid-2010s, winning back-to-back trophies in 2015 and 2016, the only two wins in their history. Paraguay and Peru I’ve won it a couple of times too, and Bolivia and Colombia They have one each, both winning as host countries.