Loading...
South American nations have produced some of the best teams and players to ever play international soccer in the FIFA World Cup and Copa America. While the modern era Copa America includes all nations in CONMEBOL (North and Central American national teams), the most dominant teams in the tournament’s history are of South American heritage.
While victory is the goal of every team at this level, only a few nations come out superior and have their names etched on the much-desired Copa America trophy for decades to remember. So, in this article, we’ll outline three of the best separate Copa America winners, the year(s) they won the tournament and what made their team so dominant.
Kicking off this list is an interesting Championship scenario involving the Chilean Men’s National Team, where two consecutive Copa Americas were played two years in a row. It’s important to understand that the 2016 event was the tournament’s centenary or the 100th anniversary of the Copa America, so another “Extra” tournament took place in the US after the scheduled 2015 Copa America, which occurs once every four years.
The 2015 Copa America took place in Chile, and the home nation came out the gate firing with seven points (two wins, one tie) to advance to the knockout stage. Chile would then conquer a troubled Uruguay in a 1-0 route and go on to face longtime rival nation Peru in the semi-finals, whom they would scrape by in a 2-1 win. Being the home team in these 4-year tournaments gives you a massive advantage as hosting the Copa America means the home team doesn’t have to play qualifiers, so it was no surprise Chile would make it this far.
The real test was facing Lionel Messi’s Argentina in the finals, the most threatening team in the tournament, whom Chile would defeat in both the 2015 and the 2016 Centenary finals in penalties. Being so dominant in back-to-back tournaments and overcoming the world’s best team twice certainly earns Chile a spot on this list of best Copa America winners ever.
While they didn’t include Central and North American teams in the Copa America until the 2016 Centenary and the most recent 2024 tournament, the two-time back-to-back tourney-winning Brazilian national team was a force to reckon with in the 2004 and 2007 Copa Americas.
Despite coming out of their group second with six points (two wins, one loss) just behind Paraguay, Brazil would advance to the knockout stage in 2004 to eliminate Mexico in a 4-0 slaughter. Next up in the semi-finals was the battle-hardened Uruguay, whom Brazil would closely defeat in penalties, only to head to the finals to face none other than Argentina, winning 4-2 on penalties again.
In 2007, Brazil would again go on a rampant run with relatively the same group of players. Again, the Brazilian national team would come out second place in the very tough group stage behind Mexico with six points (two wins, one loss), repeating a similar path to the final, first eliminating Chile 6-1 and Uruguay 5-4 in penalties in the semi-finals. Unfortunately for Argentina, they would again lose to Brazil 3-0 in the finals of the prestigious South American tournament for the second time in a row.
With enough heartbreak, Argentina decided they’d had enough of losing in the finals and turned their decades of misfortune into back-to-back successes. Out of the other teams on this list, the Argentinian national team from 2021-2024 was one of the best Copa America winners to ever grace the sport, securing the 2022 World Cup trophy in between.
In 2021, Argentina would unquestionably finish first place out of the five teams in their group and advance to the next round with a whopping 10 points (three wins, one tie). Defeating Ecuador 3-0 in the quarter-finals was no problem, the next challenge was facing Columbia and scraping by in penalties 3-2, where Messi would finally get his shot at his first international trophy.
Not only would Argentina beat Brazil 1-0 in the 2021 final, but the team would go on to win the 2022 World Cup. By the 2024 Copa America Argentina, was the absolute team to be feared, and for good reason. Finishing the group stage undefeated with three wins and nine points made the quarter-finals match seem much harder than it should’ve been for the team, who would knock out Ecuador 4-2 in penalties and advance to play Canada in the semis. While Canada wasn’t too much of a threat losing to the dominant Argentina 2-0, Colombia would be, and the finals between giants Argentina vs. Colombia would finish 1-0 in extra time.
Argentina would nab their second Copa America trophy in a row, making them undoubtedly one of the best Copa America winners ever.
Liam has been a major sports fan and soccer player for over a decade, with a particular focus on major top-level soccer leagues, including the EPL, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and MLS. He has written numerous promotional articles for various top sportsbooks and continues to publish historical and factual sports articles covering the NFL, MLS, NHL, MLB, EPL and more.