CONMEBOL ( ) or CSF (; ; ) is the continental governing body of football in South America and it is one of FIFA's six continental confederations. The oldest continental confederation in the world, its headquarters are located in Luque, Paraguay. CONMEBOL is responsible for the organization and governance of South American football's major international tournaments. With 10 member football associations, it has the fewest members of all the confederations in FIFA. It is also the only fully continental, land-based FIFA confederation (no island countries or associates from different continents).
CONMEBOL national teams have won ten FIFA World Cups (Brazil five, Argentina three and Uruguay two) and CONMEBOL clubs have won 22 Intercontinental Cups and 4 FIFA Club World Cups. Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay have won two Olympic gold medals each.
The World Cup qualifiers of CONMEBOL have been described as the "toughest qualifiers in the world" for their simple round-robin system, entry of some of the top national teams in the world, leveling of the weaker national teams, climate and geographic conditions, strong home stands and passionate supporters.
Alejandro DomÃÂnguez, from Paraguay, has been president since 26 January 2016. The vice presidents are Ramón Jesurún (Colombia), Laureano González (Venezuela) and Arturo Salah (Chile).
In 1916, the first edition of the "Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol" (South-American Football Championship), later known as the "Copa América", was contested in Argentina to commemorate the centenary of the Argentine Declaration of Independence. The four participating associations of that tournament gathered in Buenos Aires in order to officially create a governing body to facilitate the organization of the tournament. Thus, CONMEBOL was founded on 9 July 1916 under the initiative of Uruguayan Héctor Rivadavia Gómez, but approved by the football associations of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay. The first Constitutional Congress on 15 December of that same year, which took place in Montevideo, ratified the decision.
Over the years, the other football associations in South America joined, with the last being Venezuela in 1952.
There are sovereign states or dependencies in South America which are not affiliated with CONMEBOL but are members of other confederations or do not have affiliation with any other confederations at all.
The main competition for men's national teams is the Copa América, which started in 1916. The Copa America is the only continental competition in which teams from a completely different continent and confederation can be invited to participate. CONMEBOL usually selects and invites a couple of teams from the AFC or CONCACAF to participate in the Copa America. Japan and Qatar were invited to participate in the 2019 edition of the Copa America. CONMEBOL also runs national competitions at Under-20, Under-17 and Under-15 levels. For women's national teams, CONMEBOL operates the Copa América Femenina for senior national sides, as well as Under-20 and Under-17 championships.
In futsal, there is the Copa América de Futsal and Campeonato Sudamericano de Futsal Sub-20. The Campeonato Sudamericano Femenino de Futsal is the women's equivalent to the men's tournament.
CONMEBOL also runs the two main club competitions in South America: the Copa Libertadores was first held in 1960 and the Copa Sudamericana was launched by CONMEBOL in 2002 as an indirect successor to the Supercopa Libertadores (begun in 1988). A third competition, the Copa CONMEBOL, started in 1992 and was abolished in 1999. In women's football, CONMEBOL also conducts the Copa Libertadores Femenina for club teams. The competition was first held in 2009.
The Recopa Sudamericana is an annual match between the past year's winners of the Copa Libertadores and the winners of the Copa Sudamericana (previously the winners of the Supercopa Libertadores) and came into being in 1989.
The Intercontinental Cup was jointly organized with UEFA between the Copa Libertadores and the UEFA Champions League winners.
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Last updated: 11 January 2026
<small>Last updated on: 13 December 2025 â https://www.iffhs.com/posts/4801</small>
Men's update: 1 October 2025.
For each tournament, the flag of the host country and the number of teams in each finals tournament (in brackets) are shown.
On 27 May 2015, several CONMEBOL leaders were arrested in Zürich, Switzerland by Swiss police and indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice on charges of corruption, money laundering, and racketeering. Those swept up in the operation include former CONMEBOL presidents Eugenio Figueredo and Nicolás Léoz and several football federations presidents such as Carlos Chávez and Sergio Jadue. On 3 December 2015, the CONMEBOL President Juan ÃÂngel Napout was also arrested.