Copa América is a soccer tournament held under the auspices of CONMEBOL among the national teams of South American countries. The first recognized tournament was held in 1916. Thus, the America’s Cup is the oldest existing international continental soccer tournament. It is 44 years older than its European counterpart.
The America’s Cup is held under the auspices of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL). This tournament was officially held for the first time in 1916. The championship between the national teams of South America is the oldest existing international continental competition.
From 2007 to 2019, the Copa America was held every four years. At the same time, an additional tournament was held in 2016, which was called the Centennial America’s Cup. In 2020, CONMEBOL planned to change the periodicity of the Copa America to synchronize with the European Football Championships. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the competition was postponed until 2021. In 2024, it was decided that the America’s Cup would again be held every four years.
All national teams from CONMEBOL take part in the America’s Cup: Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela and Chile. Since 1993, two teams from each of the other confederations, usually from the Confederation of North and Central American and Caribbean Football (CONCACAF), have been invited to the tournament. In 2024, the Copa America will feature 10 teams from CONMEBOL and six more from CONCACAF.
The current winner of the America’s Cup is the national team of Argentina. In July 2021, Argentina defeated Brazil 1-0 in the final of the tournament thanks to a goal by striker Angel Di Maria. Argentina and Uruguay are the most decorated teams in the history of the America’s Cup, with 15 trophies each.
In 2024, the competing teams will include the 10 Member Countries of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL): Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. Six teams from the Confederation of North, Central American, and Caribbean Football (CONCACAF) will also participate in the tournament. This year it will be Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, the USA, and two other countries yet to be determined.
Argentina and Uruguay have won the most America’s Cups. 15 each, with Brazil winning nine. Every CONMEBOL team except Ecuador and Venezuela has won at least one America’s Cup, and no team from outside South America has ever won. Mexico was the only non-South American team to even reach the final.
What is Copa América?
Copa América is the name of one of the most important sporting events in the world as national teams from soccer powers such as Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile battle teams from North America and the Caribbean for supremacy in the Western Hemisphere. The Copa America dates back to 1916, when Uruguay defeated Argentina in the final.
In terms of visual identity, Copa América is very versatile. The logo of the championship always depends on the country it takes place in, with the primary icon changing dramatically throughout the years. So let’s have a look at the emblems starting at the end of the 1980s.
This image features a logo that is associated with the Copa America event held in 1979. At the top of the logo, the text “COPA AMERICA” is written in bold, capitalized letters. Below it is a circular emblem, which contains the words “ASOCIACION PARAGUAYA DE FUTBOL” arranged around a central design that includes a star and stripes. The colors red, white, and blue dominate the emblem, reflecting Paraguay’s national colors. The year “1979” is displayed prominently at the bottom of the image. The style of the logo is somewhat simplistic and consistent with design aesthetics from the late 1970s.
This image is the logo of Copa America from 1983. It features a grid of multiple national flags representing the countries that participated in the tournament. Above the grid of flags, the text “Copa America” is visible – it’s the main event. The number “1983” is displayed at the bottom, which is the year of this edition of the tournament.
The image is the logo for the 1987 Copa América, a South American international men’s soccer tournament. The logo features a black and yellow soccer ball in the center of a flag. The flag itself has light blue and white horizontal stripes, which is reminiscent of the flag of Argentina.
Below the image, text reads “Argentina 87.” This suggests that the tournament was held in Argentina in 1987.
The Copa America logo from 1989 depicted the flag and the stylized emblem of the tournament, a blue football with pink fragments a thin blue horizontal lines coming off the ball to the right.
In 1991 the Copa America finale was held in Chile, hence the logo of the championship was to praise this country. Unlike the badge from the previous year, this one was not based on the flag but featured a cool cartoonish image with the mountain landscape and the Chilean guy playing football.
The Copa America season 1993 logo looked sleek and minimalistic. Held in Ecuador, this time the event got its visual identity very abstract and stylish. The logo was composed of two human figures made of two arched strokes and a solid black roundel replacing the heads. Both figures were leading the football, and the smaller one had the name of the championship inscribed into it.
In 1995 Copa America finale was held in Uruguay, but again, the logo of the event didn’t have any flag of the country in it. However, it did have a contour of the America region drawn in it and placed in between the two levels of the sans-serif blue lettering, advertising the name of the tournament.
The flag of Bolivia appeared on the Copa América logo in 1997. It was the same concept as in 1989, with the national flag and the blue football with horizontal stripes coming out of it to the right.
Paraguay hosted the Copa America finale in 1999 again. This time the logo of the championship depicted the flag of the country with red, white, and blue stripes, where the blue and red globe with a white, red, and blue football was placed. The badge looked very cool and balanced.
The Colombian “edition” of Copa America, held in 2001, had its logo based on the flag of the hosting country again. The yellow blue and red flag of the Latin American country was accompanied by a white football, acting like a globe with the American continent drawn in yellow, blue, and red on it.
The logo of the Copa America 2004, held in Peru was executed in white, red, and gradient gray. The flag of the country was accompanied by a voluminous globe with red continents contours, and a bold blue lettering on a slanted sans-serif typeface, set above and beyond the flag.
Even though the logo of Copa America from 2006 also featured a flag of a hosting country, Venezuela, this time the flag got another shape — a wavy one. Plus it was decorated by a white arch composed of eight five-pointed stars. On the right of the logo, there was a globe with the continents drawn in yellow, blue, and red.
In 2011 Argentina was the country hosting Copa America, so the logo of the championship was executed in a tender yet delightful color palette, composed of blue, white, and yellow, with the flag shades being lighter than the ones on the football stylized globe on the right of the badge.
The Chilean tournament of 2015 featured a very cool and modern logo, full of colors, yet minimalistic in its structure. It was a stylized football with colorful geometric details in yellow, blue, green, and red, and a white five/pointed star in the very middle. The emblem was accompanied by his two-leveled lettering in blue and red, with the two parts set in different typefaces.
The 2016 final of Copa America took place in the USA and it was the 100th anniversary of the event. For this significant date, the logo of the tournament was redrawn again. The anniversary badge depicted a stylized Copa America trophy in gradient gold with blue, red, and green curves accompanying it. The lettering was placed under the emblem in gradient gold characters.
The redesign of 2019 has introduced a contemporary and abstract badge for Copa America, which was taking place in Brazil. The white trophy with blue and green pattern was placed on a circular background with the Brazilian flag color scheme, and complemented by a stylized blue and green lettering under it.
The logo of Copa America created in 2021 was executed in a delightful and eye-catching color palette, with the white trophy in the center, the right part executed in light blue and white, and the left one — in yellow, blue, red, and green, also with an addition of white.
In 2024 Copa America will also take place in the United States. And this time the logo is fully repeating the color palette and the main elements of the national flag of the USA. The overall concept remains the same, but due to the use of a new color scheme, the badge looks fresher and stronger.
The bold uppercase lettering from the Copa America 2024 logo is set in a softened yet stable sand-serif typeface with looks pretty close to such commercial fonts as Mairy, Corporate Strade, or Niva, but with some minor modifications.
As for the color palette of the Copa America logo, it depends on the country hosting the event. And the latest one is in the United States, hence the color scheme is composed of blue, white, and red.