Uruguay at the Copa América

The Copa América is South America's major tournament in senior men's football and determines the continental champion. Until 1967, the tournament was known as South American Championship. It is the oldest continental championship in the world with its first edition held in 1916.

Uruguay won the inaugural tournament in Argentina, making them the first nation to hold an international football title worldwide. They are the second-most successful team in tournament history with fifteen titles, behind rivals Argentina by one.

Until 1927, the South American Championship was held annually, and Uruguay were the dominating team during this early era, winning six out of eleven tournaments. Part of all six victorious squads was inside-forward Ángel Romano, who holds the record for most titles and for most tournament participations (9).

Overall record

South American Championship / Copa América record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	Squad
1916	Champions	1st	3	2	1	0	6	1	Squad
1917	Champions	1st	3	3	0	0	9	0	Squad
1919	Runners-up	2nd	4	2	1	1	7	5	Squad
1920	Champions	1st	3	2	1	0	9	2	Squad
1921	Third place	3rd	3	1	0	2	3	4	Squad
1922	Third place	3rd	4	2	1	1	3	1	Squad
1923	Champions	1st	3	3	0	0	6	1	Squad
1924	Champions	1st	3	2	1	0	8	1	Squad
1925	Withdrew
1926	Champions	1st	4	4	0	0	17	2	Squad
1927	Runners-up	2nd	3	2	0	1	15	3	Squad
1929	Third place	3rd	3	1	0	2	4	6	Squad
1935	Champions	1st	3	3	0	0	6	1	Squad
1937	Third place	3rd	5	2	0	3	11	14	Squad
1939	Runners-up	2nd	4	3	0	1	13	5	Squad
1941	Runners-up	2nd	4	3	0	1	10	1	Squad
1942	Champions	1st	6	6	0	0	21	2	Squad
1945	Fourth place	4th	6	3	0	3	14	6	Squad
1946	Fourth place	4th	5	2	0	3	11	9	Squad
1947	Third place	3rd	7	5	0	2	21	8	Squad
1949	Sixth place	6th	7	2	1	4	14	20	Squad
1953	Third place	3rd	6	3	1	2	15	6	Squad
1955	Fourth place	4th	5	2	1	2	12	12	Squad
1956	Champions	1st	5	4	1	0	9	3	Squad
1957	Third place	3rd	6	4	0	2	15	12	Squad
1959	Sixth place	6th	6	2	0	4	15	14	Squad
1959	Champions	1st	4	3	1	0	13	1	Squad
1963	Withdrew
1967	Champions	1st	5	4	1	0	13	2	Squad
1975	Semifinals	3rd	2	1	0	1	1	3	Squad
1979	Group stage	6th	4	1	2	1	5	5	Squad
1983	Champions	1st	8	5	2	1	12	6	Squad
1987	Champions	1st	2	2	0	0	2	0	Squad
1989	Runners-up	2nd	7	4	0	3	11	3	Squad
1991	Group stage	5th	4	1	3	0	4	3	Squad
1993	Quarter-finals	6th	4	1	2	1	5	5	Squad
1995	Champions	1st	6	4	2	0	11	4	Squad
1997	Group stage	9th	3	1	0	2	2	2	Squad
1999	Runners-up	2nd	6	1	2	3	4	9	Squad
2001	Fourth place	4th	6	2	2	2	7	7	Squad
2004	Third place	3rd	6	3	2	1	12	10	Squad
2007	Fourth place	4th	6	2	2	2	8	9	Squad
2011	Champions	1st	6	3	3	0	9	3	Squad
2015	Quarter-finals	7th	4	1	1	2	2	3	Squad
2016	Group stage	11th	3	1	0	2	4	4	Squad
2019	Quarter-finals	6th	4	2	2	0	7	2	Squad
2021	Quarter-finals	5th	5	2	2	1	4	2	Squad
2024	Third place	3rd	6	3	2	1	11	4	Squad
Total	15 Titles	46/48	212	115	40	57	421	226	—

Decisive matches and finals

In the era of the South American Championship, Round Robins were more commonly played than knock-out tournaments. Listed are the decisive matches which secured Uruguay the respective titles.

Year	Match type	Opponent	Result	Manager	Uruguay scorers	Final location
1916	Round Robin	Argentina	0–0	Alfredo Foglino		Avellaneda
1917	Round Robin	Argentina	1–0	Ramón Platero	H. Scarone	Montevideo
1920	Round Robin	Chile	2–1	Ernesto Fígoli	Á. Romano, J. Pérez	Vina del Mar
1923	Round Robin	Argentina	2–0	Leonardo De Lucca	P. Petrone, P. Somma	Montevideo
1924	Round Robin	Argentina	0–0	Ernesto Meliante		Montevideo
1926	Round Robin	Paraguay	6–1	Ernesto Fígoli	H. Castro (4), Z. Saldombide (2)	Santiago
1935	Round Robin	Argentina	3–0	Raúl Blanco	H. Castro, J. Taboada, A. Ciocca	Lima
1942	Round Robin	Argentina	1–0	Pedro Cea	B. Zapirain	Montevideo
1956	Round Robin	Argentina	1–0	Hugo Magnulo	J. Ambrois	Montevideo
1959	Round Robin	Argentina– Brazil	4–1	Juan Carlos Corazzo		Guayaquil
1967	Round Robin	Argentina	1–0	Juan Carlos Corazzo	P. Rocha	Montevideo
1983	Final, Second Leg	Brazil	1–1	Omar Borrás	C. Aguilera	Salvador da Bahia
1987	Final	Chile	1–0	Roberto Fleitas	P. Bengoechea	Buenos Aires
1995	Final	Brazil	1–1 (5–3 p)	Héctor Núñez	P. Bengoechea	Montevideo
2011	Final	Paraguay	3–0	Óscar Tabárez	L. Suárez, D. Forlán (2)	Buenos Aires

Record by opponent

Copa América matches (by team)
Opponent	W	D	L	Pld	GF	GA
Argentina	13	4	15	32	36	43
Bolivia	14	1	2	17	55	6
Brazil	9	9	9	27	40	37
Canada	0	1	0	1	2	2
Chile	19	5	7	31	63	29
Colombia	6	3	4	13	18	10
Costa Rica	1	1	0	2	3	2
Ecuador	14	1	3	18	66	11
Honduras	0	1	1	2	2	3
Jamaica	2	0	0	2	4	0
Japan	0	1	0	1	2	2
Mexico	1	2	3	6	7	11
Panama	1	0	0	1	3	1
Paraguay	15	6	6	27	55	33
Peru	12	3	6	21	42	25
United States	2	0	0	2	2	0
Venezuela	6	2	1	9	21	6
Total	115	40	57	212	421	226

Record players

Rank	Player	Matches	Tournaments
1	Fernando Muslera	22	2011, 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2021
2	Ángel Romano	21	1916, 1917, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1924 and 1926
	Schubert Gambetta	21	1941, 1942, 1945 and 1947
	José Giménez	21	2015, 2016, 2019, 2021 and 2024
5	Roberto Porta	20	1939, 1941, 1942 and 1945
	Obdulio Varela	20	1939, 1941, 1942, 1945 and 1946
	Diego Pérez	20	2001, 2004, 2007 and 2011
8	Pascual Somma	19	1916, 1917, 1920, 1921, 1922 and 1923
	William Martínez	19	1953, 1955, 1956 and 1959 (ARG)
	Diego Godín	19	2007, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2021
	Edinson Cavani	19	2011, 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2021
	Luis Suárez	19	2011, 2019, 2021 and 2024

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Goals	Tournaments (goals)
1	Severino Varela	15	1937 (5), 1939 (5) and 1942 (5)
2	Héctor Scarone	13	1917 (2), 1919 (1), 1923 (1), 1926 (6) and 1927 (3)
3	Ángel Romano	12	1917 (4), 1920 (3), 1921 (2), 1924 (2) and 1926 (1)
3	Roberto Porta	12	1939 (3), 1941 (1), 1942 (5) and 1945 (3)
5	Pedro Petrone	10	1923 (3), 1924 (4) and 1927 (3)
	Héctor Castro	10	1926 (6), 1927 (2) and 1935 (2)
	Javier Ambrois	10	1956 (1) and 1957 (9)
8	Nicolás Falero	9	1945 (1) and 1947 (8)
9	Luis Suárez	8	2011 (4), 2019 (2), 2021 (1) and 2024 (1)
10	José María Medina	7	1946
	Guillermo Escalada	7	1956 (3), 1959 [ARG] (2) and 1959 [ECU] (2)
	José Sasia	7	1957 (1), 1959 [ARG] (3) and 1959 [ECU] (3)

Players with multiple titles

Rank	Player	Championships
1	Ángel Romano	6 (1916, 1917, 1920, 1923, 1924, 1926)
2	Pascual Somma	4 (1916, 1917, 1920, 1923)
	Héctor Scarone	4 (1917, 1923, 1924, 1926)
	José Nasazzi	4* (1923, 1924, 1926, 1935)
5	Alfredo Foglino	3 (1916, 1917, 1920)
	José Pérez	3 (1916, 1917, 1920)
	Antonio Urdinarán	3 (1916, 1917, 1920)
	José Piendibene	3 (1916, 1917, 1920)
	Alfredo Zibechi	3 (1916, 1920, 1924)
	José Vanzzino	3 (1916, 1917, 1926)
	José Leandro Andrade	3 (1923, 1924, 1926)
	Alfredo Ghierra	3 (1923, 1924, 1926)
	Andrés Mazali	3 (1923, 1924, 1926)
	Santos Urdinarán	3 (1923, 1924, 1926)
	Enzo Francéscoli	3 (1983, 1987, 1995)
16	28 players	2

* Additionally, José Nasazzi won the title once as head coach of Uruguay in 1942.

Awards and records

Team awards

Champions (15): 1916, 1917, 1920, 1923, 1924, 1926, 1935, 1942, 1956, 1959 (Ecuador), 1967, 1983, 1987, 1995, 2011
Runners-up (6): 1919, 1927, 1939, 1941, 1989, 1999
Third place (9): 1921, 1922, 1929, 1937, 1947, 1953, 1957, 2004, 2024
Fair Play Award: 2011

Individual awards^[1]

MVP 1916: Isabelino Gradín
MVP 1917: Héctor Scarone
MVP 1920: José Piendibene
MVP 1923 and 1935: José Nasazzi
MVP 1924: Pedro Petrone
MVP 1926: José Leandro Andrade
MVP 1942: Obdulio Varela
MVP 1956: Oscar Míguez
MVP 1959 (Ecuador): Alcides Silveira
MVP 1967: Pedro Rocha
MVP 1983 and 1995: Enzo Francéscoli
MVP 1989: Ruben Sosa
MVP 2011: Luis Suárez
Top scorer 1916: Isabelino Gradín (3 goals)
Top scorer 1917: Ángel Romano (4 goals)
Top scorer 1920: Ángel Romano and José Pérez (3 goals each) (shared)
Top scorer 1923: Pedro Petrone (3 goals) (shared)
Top scorer 1924: Pedro Petrone (4 goals)
Top scorer 1927: Pedro Petrone, Héctor Scarone and Roberto Figueroa (3 goals each) (shared)
Top scorer 1946: José María Medina (7 goals)
Top scorer 1947: Nicolás Falero (8 goals)
Top scorer 1957: Javier Ambrois (9 goals) (shared)
Top scorer 1983: Carlos Aguilera (3 goals) (shared)
Best young player 2011: Sebastián Coates

Team records

Most titles: 15 (shared with Argentina)
Most matches played: 212

Individual records

Most goals in one tournament: Javier Ambrois (9 goals in 1957, shared with Jair in 1949 and Humberto Maschio in 1957)
Most tournament participations: Ángel Romano (9, 1916–1926)