Introduction

This was the first Copa America to be contested and it was played after World Cup VIII. There were a total of 10 teams who took part in the competition; all of the CONMEBOL sides who had participated in World Cup VIII qualifying.

CONMEBOL also decided to use the ten team format that most other confederations were using for their continental tournaments. The top three in each group would advance to the knockout round, with the top teams earning a BYE to the semifinals.

Teams Entered: 10
Champion: Brazil (1st)
Top Scorer: Luis Fabiano (7)

Qualification

There are only ten teams in CONMEBOL, so no qualification phase was needed.

Seeding

The draw for the groups was seeded. Teams were ranked based on their performance against other continental teams throughout World Cup qualifying for the first eight World Cups. Since Bolivia and Venezuela did not participate in the first seven World Cups, the results were normalized to "points per game", although this still left the newcomers as the bottom two teams.

Argentina - 89 pts +47 GD 89/44 = 2.02
Brazil - 86 pts +38 GD 86/44 = 1.95
Uruguay - 68 pts +12 GD 68/44 = 1.55
Colombia - 55 pts -1 GD 55/44 = 1.25
Chile - 54 pts -14 GD 54/44 = 1.23
Paraguay - 49 pts -15 GD 49/44 = 1.11
Peru - 46 pts -25 GD 46/44 = 1.05
Ecuador - 43 pts -19 GD 43/44 = 0.98
Venezuela - 5 pts -7 GD 5/8 = 0.63
Bolivia - 1 pts -16 GD 1/8 = 0.13

Copa America

Group A

Brazil - 10 pts +11 GD 14 GF 3 GA
Colombia - 6 pts +1 GD 10 GF 9 GA
Ecuador - 4 pts -1 GD 7 GF 8 GA
Chile - 4 pts -5 GD 6 GF 11 GA
Venezuela - 4 pts -6 GD 4 GF 10 GA

Brazil 5 - 1 Chile [Diego x2, Pato, Anderson, Robinho; Beausejour]
Colombia 6 - 1 Venezuela [F. Montero x3, Renteria x3; Cesar Gonzalez]
BYE: Ecuador

Chile 3 - 1 Colombia [Humberto Suazo x3; Toja]
Ecuador 2 - 2 Brazil [Carlos Tenorio, Noboa; Adriano x2]
BYE: Venezuela

Colombia 3 - 0 Ecuador [Rodallega, M. Torres x2]
Venezuela 1 - 1 Chile [Maldonado; Millar]
BYE: Brazil

Ecuador 1 - 2 Venezuela [Urrutia; Rondon, Moreno]
Brazil 5 - 0 Colombia [Luis Fabiano x2, Kaka x2, Adriano]
BYE: Chile

Venezuela 0 - 2 Brazil [Luis Fabiano x2]
Chile 1 - 4 Ecuador [Vidal; Mendez x2, Valencia, Carlos Tenorio]
BYE: Colombia

Group B

Argentina - 9 pts +8 GD 14 GF 6 GA
Paraguay - 8 pts +5 GD 10 GF 5 GA
Bolivia - 5 pts -4 GD 8 GF 12 GA
Uruguay - 4 pts -1 GD 7 GF 8 GA
Peru - 1 pts -8 GD 3 GF 11 GA

Peru 1 - 1 Paraguay [Rengifo; Vargas OG]
Argentina 7 - 0 Bolivia [Aguero, Lucho, D. Milito x3, Veron, Gago]
BYE: Uruguay

Paraguay 4 - 2 Argentina [Cabanas x2, O. Martinez x2; Tevez, Aguero]
Uruguay 4 - 0 Peru [Forlan, C. Rodriguez x2, Suarez]
BYE: Bolivia

Argentina 3 - 1 Uruguay [Lisandro, Aguero x2; Abreu]
Bolivia 2 - 2 Paraguay [Botero, M. Moreno; Oscar Cardozo x2]
BYE: Peru

Uruguay 2 - 2 Bolivia [Suarez x2; Castillo, M. Moreno]
Peru 1 - 2 Argentina [Rengifo; Lisandro, Aguero]
BYE: Paraguay

Bolivia 4 - 1 Peru [Botero x2, J. Campos, M. Moreno; Fano]
Paraguay 3 - 0 Uruguay [Santa Cruz, Oscar Cardozo, Bonet]
BYE: Argentina