The Copa América (in Spanish : Campeonato Sudamericano Copa América, in Portuguese : Campeonato Sul-Americano Copa América), the American Cup in French, is the most important international football competition organized by CONMEBOL (with invitations for teams of CONCACAF or AFC ). It takes place alternately every two, three or four years since the first edition in 1916 . Since 1984 and the demise of the British Home Championship , the Copa América has been the oldest continental tournament in football history. The current defending champion is Brazil , winner in 2019 .

The trophy created in 1916. The names of the winning countries are inscribed on the foot.

The current tournament format involves twelve national teams competing at the venues of a host nation over a period of approximately one month. The South American confederation has only ten members, so national teams from other FIFA confederations are invited to fill the two vacant places. Mexico , a member of CONCACAF, has been regularly invited since its first participation in 1993 . Since 1999, AFC teams have also been invited, as is the case for Japan and Qatar in 2019 . In 45 editions, eight national teams have won the title. Uruguay leads in the number of victories with 15 titles. Argentina have 14, Brazil have won nine trophies, Chile, Paraguay and Peru follow with two titles each. The other two champions are Bolivia and Colombia , with one title each.

The Copa América is one of the world's most watched sporting events. The 2007 edition had an estimated audience of 530 million viewers in Latin America and a cumulative global audience of four billion people across 185 countries. The Copa América title holder was invited to participate in the next edition of the Confederations Cup before the latter's removal in 2019.