CONMEBOL

CONMEBOL or CSF (Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol, South American Football Confederation) is the governing body of football in most of South America. It was founded by Uruguayan Héctor Rivadavia Gómez. Conmebol teams have won half of all FIFA World Cup tournaments, and two of the top five teams in the FIFA World Rankings are Conmebol members.

Contents [hide]
1 Background
2 Member countries
3 Tournaments organized by Conmebol
3.1 Between nations
4 World Cup qualifiers
4.1 Performance at World Cup finals
4.2 Totals (current members)
5 Conmebol presidents
6 External links



[edit] Background
It was founded July 9, 1916, thanks to Uruguayan Héctor Rivadavia Gómez who was the driving force for uniting football around the continent. Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Chile were the founder nations. The confederation was founded during the course of a successful South American football tournament that was taking place in Buenos Aires as part of the commemoration of Argentina's independence centenary [1] (This tournament was retrospectively acknowledged as the first Copa América). Paraguay (1921), Peru (1925), Bolivia (1926), Ecuador (1927), Colombia (1936) and Venezuela (1952) also became members. Today Conmebol is part of FIFA and is in charge of all professional football activities in its member countries. The permanent headquarters are located in Luque, Paraguay (near Asunción). The president (until 2006) of the Executive Committee is Dr. Nicolás Leoz.

Even though they are located in South America, Guyana, Suriname and the French département d'outre-mer of French Guiana are not members of Conmebol - for historical, cultural and mainly sporting reasons their national associations are members of CONCACAF.

Among the tournaments conducted by Conmebol are the Copa Libertadores de América (analogous to the UEFA Champions League) and the Copa Sudamericana (analogous to the UEFA Cup), both for club teams, and Copa América for men's national teams.


[edit] Member countries
Argentina - national team - first division - association (created in 1893, co-founded Conmebol in 1916)
Bolivia - national team - first division - association (created in 1925, joined Conmebol in 1926)
Brazil - national team - first division - association (created in 1914, co-founded Conmebol in 1916)
Chile - national team - first division - association (created in 1895, co-founded Conmebol in 1916)
Colombia - national team - first division - association (created in 1924, joined Conmebol in 1936)
Ecuador - national team - first division - association (created in 1925, joined Conmebol in 1927)
Paraguay - national team - first division - association (created in 1906, joined Conmebol in 1921)
Peru - national team - first division - association (created in 1922, joined Conmebol in 1925)
Uruguay - national team - first division - association (created in 1899, co-founded Conmebol in 1916)
Venezuela - national team - first division - association (created in 1926, joined Conmebol in 1952)

[edit] Tournaments organized by Conmebol

[edit] Between nations
Copa América [since 1916]
CONMEBOL Men Pre-Olympic Tournament [defunct]
Sudamericano Femenino [women's championship, since 1991]
South American Under 20 Football Championship
South American Under 17 Football Championship

[edit] World Cup qualifiers
Although Conmebol countries represent only a small fraction of the world, their teams have won half of the World Cup tournaments.


[edit] Performance at World Cup finals
This is the list of the teams that participated of each World Cup. For further information on the qualification process and withdrawals, see the (Q) corresponding links (the first World Cup of 1930 didn't have any qualification process).

Marked in bold are host countries
Year Q Winner Runner-up Third place Fourth place Other
1930 — Uruguay Argentina Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru
1934 Q Argentina, Brazil
1938 Q Brazil
1950 Q Uruguay Brazil Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay
1954 Q Uruguay Brazil
1958 Q Brazil Argentina, Paraguay
1962 Q Brazil Chile Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay
1966 Q Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay
1970 Q Brazil Uruguay Peru
1974 Q Brazil Argentina, Chile, Uruguay
1978 Q Argentina Brazil Peru
1982 Q Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru
1986 Q Argentina Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay
1990 Q Argentina Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay
1994 Q Brazil Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia
1998 Q Brazil Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay
2002 Q Brazil Argentina, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay
2006 Q Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay
2010 Q


[edit] Totals (current members)
18 Brazil (5 wins, 2 runners-up, 2 third places, 1 fourth place)
14 Argentina (2 wins, 2 runners-up)
10 Uruguay (2 wins, 2 fourth places)
7 Chile (1 third place)
Paraguay
4 Colombia
Peru
3 Bolivia
2 Ecuador
0 Venezuela


[edit] Conmebol presidents
Héctor Rivadavia Gómez 1916-1936
Luis O. Salesi 1936-1939
Luis A. Valenzuela 1939-1955
Carlos Dittborn Pinto 1955-1957
José Ramos de Freitas 1957-1959
Fermín Sorhueta 1959-1961
Raúl H. Colombo 1961-1966
Teófilo Salinas Fuller 1966-1986
Nicolás Leoz 1986-present