Copa América: What’s the significance of “Centenario”?
By Ryan Wrenn
Friday will mark the beginning of a very special rendition of the Copa América, South America’s regional international soccer tournament.
The South American Football Confederation — otherwise known as CONMEBOL — organizes the event, which typically occurs at irregular intervals every few years.
Despite the fact that the tournament was held just last year in Chile, an exception was made to allow for the tournament to be played again in 2016. The year will mark one century since the inaugural Copa América was played in 1916, hence the name “Centenario”.
That tournament was the first recognized continental soccer tournament in the history of the sport, predating even the World Cup.
It was almost unrecognizable compared to its modern iteration. Only four teams participated — Argentina, Brazil. Uruguay and Chile — and it wasn’t initially meant to be a regular occurrence, the nations only gathering together to celebrate Argentina’s independence from Spain a 100 years before.
Argentina would lose to Chile in the final match of that tournament, and shortly after its conclusion the four nations agree to form the confederation that would go on to become CONMEBOL. They would reconvene again in Brazil in 1919, with the hosts winning their first ever silverware.
Over time, new nations were invited into the confederation and the tournament grew along with it. Argentina and Brazil would go on to become soccer powerhouses, with countries like Chile and Colombia quickly ascending the ranks as well. Recent Copas have pitted the best players in the sport against one another for some truly memorable encounters, a tradition that will be continued in the United States starting on Friday.
This summer’s Copa therefore marks 100 years of some of the most passionate and storied soccer in the history of the sport. We can expect this tournament to live up to the event it commemorates.
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