Brazil At The Copa América

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.

Brazil have won the tournament nine times, which makes them the third-most successful team in tournament history behind Argentina and Uruguay (15 each).

Brazil withdrew from Copa America for almost ten years between 1926 and 1935.

They were particularly successful from 1997 to 2007, winning four out of five Copas during that time. Zizinho, who competed in the 1940s and 1950s, is both the player with the most matches (34) and the most goals (17) in tournament history, though he shares both records. After winning the 2019 Copa América, Brazil were the defending champions before losing the 2021 final to Argentina.

Pelé, the "Player of the Century", has never won the continental title and only competed in one South American Championship in 1959. However, he did present his impressive scoring abilities with eight goals in six matches, becoming that edition's top scorer and most valuable player.

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 Brazil the respective titles.

Year	Match type	Opponent	Result	Manager	Goalscorer(s)	Final location
1919	Final (Play-off)	Uruguay	1–0 (a.e.t.)	Haroldo Domingues	A. Friedenreich	Rio de Janeiro
1922	Final (Play-off)	Paraguay	3–0	Laís	Neco, Formiga (2)	Rio de Janeiro
1949	Final (Play-off)	Paraguay	7–0	Flávio Costa	Ademir (3), Tesourinha (2), Jair (2)	Rio de Janeiro
1989	Final Round Robin	Uruguay	1–0	Sebastião Lazaroni	Romário	Rio de Janeiro
1997	Final	Bolivia	3–1	Mário Zagallo	Edmundo, Ronaldo, Zé Roberto	La Paz
1999	Final	Uruguay	3–0	Vanderlei Luxemburgo	Rivaldo (2), Ronaldo	Asunción
2004	Final	Argentina	2–2 (4–2 pen.)	Carlos Alberto Parreira	Luisão, Adriano (decisive penalty: Juan)	Lima
2007	Final	Argentina	3–0	Dunga	Júlio Baptista, R. Ayala (o.g.), Dani Alves	Maracaibo
2019	Final	Peru	3–1	Tite	Everton, Gabriel Jesus, Richarlison (p)	Rio de Janeiro

Brazil's highest victories at continental championships were a 10–1 win against Bolivia in 1949 and a 9–0 win against Colombia in 1957 with Evaristo scoring five goals. Their highest defeat was a 0–6 loss against Uruguay in 1920.

In their first seven matches against Venezuela, Brazil always scored a different number of goals (0, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7).

Copa América matches (by team)
Opponent	W	D	L	Pld	GF	GA
Argentina	10	8	15	33	40	52
Bolivia	9	0	2	11	42	13
Chile	16	2	3	21	60	25
Colombia	7	1	2	10	29	4
Costa Rica	2	0	0	2	9	1
Ecuador	12	2	0	14	52	11
Haiti	1	0	0	1	7	1
Honduras	0	0	1	1	0	2
Mexico	4	0	2	6	11	6
Paraguay	12	11	7	30	58	30
Peru	13	3	3	19	42	14
Uruguay	9	8	9	26	37	40
United States	1	0	0	1	1	0
Venezuela	6	2	0	8	27	2

 

In spite of Brazil winning four Copa Américas within ten years from 1997 to 2007, no single player has been part of more than two victorious squads. Twenty-three players, however, have won two tournaments each:

* Additionally, Dunga won the title as head coach in 2007. Another Brazilian with two titles is Danilo Alvim, who won the South American Championship as player (1949) and as head coach of Bolivia (1963).

Team awards

• Winners (9): 1919, 1922, 1949, 1989, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2007, 2019
• Runners-up (12): 1921, 1925, 1937, 1945, 1946, 1953, 1957, 1959 (Argentina), 1983, 1991, 1995, 2021
• Third place (7): 1916, 1917, 1920, 1942, 1959 (Ecuador), 1975, 1979

Individual awards

• MVP 1919: Arthur Friedenreich
• MVP 1922: Agostinho Fortes
• MVP 1945: Domingos da Guia
• MVP 1949: Ademir
• MVP 1959 (ARG): Pelé
• MVP 1997: Ronaldo
• MVP 1999: Rivaldo
• MVP 2004: Adriano
• MVP 2007: Robinho
• MVP 2019: Dani Alves
• Top scorer 1919: Arthur Friedenreich+Neco (4 goals) (shared)
• Top scorer 1945: Heleno (6 goals) (shared)
• Top scorer 1949: Jair (9 goals)
• Top scorer 1959 (ARG): Pelé (8 goals)
• Top scorer 1983: Roberto Dinamite (3 goals) (shared)
• Top scorer 1989: Bebeto (6 goals)
• Top scorer 1999: Rivaldo + Ronaldo (5 goals) (shared)
• Top scorer 2004: Adriano (7 goals)
• Top scorer 2007: Robinho (6 goals)
• Top scorer 2019: Everton (3 goals) (shared)
• Best goalkeeper 2019: Alisson
• Champion as coach of another nation: Danilo Alvim (with Bolivia 1963)

Team records

• Most goals in one tournament (46, in 1949)
• Victory with highest number of goals conceded (6–4 v Chile in 1937, tied with Chile 5–4 Peru in 1955 and Bolivia 5–4 Brazil in 1963)
• Only team to simultaneously hold the Copa América and the FIFA World Cup title (1997-1998 and 2004–2006. During both spells they additionally won the FIFA Confederations Cup.)

Individual records

• Most matches: Zizinho (34, shared with Sergio Livingstone)
• Most goals: Zizinho (17, shared with Norberto Méndez)
• Goals at most different tournaments: Zizinho (6, 1942–1957)
• Most goals in one tournament: Jair (9 in 1949, shared with Javier Ambrois and Humberto Maschio, both in 1957)
• Latest goal: Arthur Friedenreich (122', 1919 v Uruguay)

• Brazil at the CONCACAF Gold Cup
• Brazil at the FIFA World Cup