Оңтүстік Америка Футбол Конфедерациясы

Governing body of association football in South America

The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL, /'//k//ɒ//n//m//ᵻ//b//ɒ//l/, or CSF; lang es; Confederação Sul Americana de Futebol) is the continental governing body of football in South America (apart from Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana) and it is one of FIFA's six continental confederations. The oldest continental confederation in the world, its headquarters are located in Luque, Paraguay. CONMEBOL is responsible for the organization and governance of South American football's major international tournaments. With 10 member football associations, it has the fewest members of all the confederations in FIFA. CONMEBOL national teams have won ten FIFA World Cups (Brazil five, Argentina three and Uruguay two) and CONMEBOL clubs have won 22 Intercontinental Cups and four FIFA Club World Cups. Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay have won two Olympic gold medals each. The World Cup qualifiers of CONMEBOL have been described as the "toughest qualifiers in the world" for their simple round robin system, entry of some of the top national teams in the world, leveling of the weaker national teams, climate and geographic conditions, strong home stands and passionate supporters. Juan Ángel Napout (Paraguay) was the president of CONMEBOL until 3 December 2015 when he was arrested in a raid in Switzerland as part of the U. S. Justice Department's bribery case involving FIFA. Wilmar Valdez (Uruguay) was interim president until 26 January 2016 when Alejandro Domínguez (Paraguay) was elected president. The Vice presidents are Ramón Jesurum (Colombia), Laureano González (Venezuela) and Arturo Salah (Chile).

In 1916, the first edition of the "Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol" (South American Football Championship), later known as the "Copa América", was contested in Argentina to commemorate the centenary of the Argentine Declaration of Independence. The four participating associations of that tournament gathered in Buenos Aires in order to officially create a governing body to facilitate the organization of the tournament. Thus, CONMEBOL was founded on 9 July 1916 under the initiative of Uruguayan Héctor Rivadavia Gómez, but approved by the football associations of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay. The first Constitutional Congress on 15 December of that same year, which took place in Montevideo, ratified the decision. Over the years, the other football associations in South America joined, with the last being Venezuela in 1952. Guyana, Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana, while geographically in South America, are not part of CONMEBOL. Consisting of a former British territory, a former Dutch territory and a French territory, they are part of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF), mainly due to historical, cultural and sporting reasons. With ten member nations, CONMEBOL is the smallest and the only fully continental land based FIFA confederation (no insular countries or associates from different continents).

The main competition for men's national teams is the Copa América, which started in 1916. The Copa America is the only continental competition in which teams from a totally different continent and confederation can be invited to participate. CONMEBOL usually selects and invites a couple of teams from the AFC or CONCACAF to participate in the Copa America. Japan and Qatar were invited to participate in the 2019 edition of the Copa America. CONMEBOL also runs national competitions at Under 20, Under 17 and Under 15 levels. For women's national teams, CONMEBOL operates the Copa América Femenina for senior national sides, as well as Under 20 and Under 17 championships. In futsal, there is the Copa América de Futsal and Campeonato Sudamericano de Futsal Sub 20. The Campeonato Sudamericano Femenino de Futsal is the women's equivalent to the men's tournament.

CONMEBOL also runs the two main club competitions in South America: the Copa Libertadores was first held in 1960 and the Copa Sudamericana was launched by CONMEBOL in 2002 as an indirect successor to the Supercopa Libertadores (begun in 1988). A third competition, the Copa CONMEBOL, started in 1992 and was abolished in 1999. In women's football, CONMEBOL also conducts the Copa Libertadores Femenina for club teams. The competition was first held in 2009. The Recopa Sudamericana is an annual match between the past year's winners of the Copa Libertadores and the winners of the Copa Sudamericana (previously the winners of the Supercopa Libertadores) and came into being in 1989. The Intercontinental Cup was jointly organized with UEFA between the Copa Libertadores and the UEFA Champions League winners.

On 27 May 2015, several CONMEBOL leaders were arrested in Zürich, Switzerland by Swiss police and indicted by the U. S. Department of Justice on charges of corruption, money laundering, and racketeering. Those swept up in the operation include former CONMEBOL presidents Eugenio Figueredo and Nicolás Léoz and several football federations presidents such as Carlos Chávez and Sergio Jadue. On 3 December 2015, the CONMEBOL President Juan Ángel Napout was also arrested.