The Copa America tournament is one of the most prestigious international soccer titles on Earth. After the World Cup, it’s probably even with the European Championship in terms of importance. With some of the best teams and players competing for glory, it’s also one of the hardest to win. But who has the most Copa America titles? We’ll give you a hint: they’re from South America, wear light blue, and have a flag with stripes and a sun on it.
All-time most Copa America titles
Ok, sorry, that’s a bit of a trick question. Because if you answered either Argentina or Uruguay, you’d be correct!
That’s right, these two neighboring nations are actually tied for the most ever Copa America wins in history. They each have 15 total titles. If you want to consider a possible tiebreaker, Argentina have been also been runners-up 14 more times, while Uruguay has only finished second on 6 occasions.
Argentina are the reigning champions, winning the 2021 Copa after not capturing the title since 1993. Uruguay’s last win came in 2011, and including that one, won seven titles as the host country. Argentina has won six times as the host nation of the tournament. Of course, no South American country is a host for 2024, as the USA will stage the competition this time.
The casual soccer fan might guess that Brazil would have the most South American titles. But they’ve only won nine, most recently in 2019. They have appeared in 20 total finals though, which is the second most times as runner-up after rivals Argentina.
Slim pickings after the big boys
After those three nations, the amount of titles won drops off substantially.
Paraguay, Chile, and Peru have each won two titles. Bolivia and Colombia, meanwhile, have one apiece. Venezuela and Ecuador, the other two members of CONMEBOL, have never even appeared in a final.
So while no team is truly a pushover in Copa America, in the end, things usually tend to be a little top-heavy.
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In addition to the normal ten members of CONMEBOL, the confederation often invites guest teams to participate in the tournament to make scheduling easier. That will again be the case in 2026, with six CONCACAF teams from North America and the Caribbean taking part. One of them, Mexico, has been a guest at nine previous Copa tournaments, placing as runners-up twice and third place three times.
To date, El Tri remains the only non-South American side to have ever made a Copa América final.
Chile took home top honors the last time the tournament was held in the United States, in 2016. This completed a back-to-back after winning the 2015 standard version of the tournament as the host country.
Will either Argentina or Uruguay break the deadlock at the top and claim the record for themselves? Can Brazil make up ground on their neighbors in the trophy room? Or will a newcomer, or even a guest team, finally claim the title of the top team in the Americas?
We’ll just have to wait until next summer to see.
Photo: Imago.
