The 1916 South American Championship (, ) was the inaugural international association football championship for members of the Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (CONMEBOL). Hosted by Argentina, the competition ran from 2–17 July 1916 and was contested by the national teams of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay.
During the competition, which was staged as part of celebrations to commemorate the centenary of Argentina's independence, the four associations of the participating teams met and founded CONMEBOL on 9 July.
The competition was due to conclude on 16 July but the final and decisive match between Argentina and Uruguay was suspended after five minutes following a riot among supporters. It concluded the following day when the teams drew 0–0 and Uruguay won the title by a single point.
Background
In 1910, the Asociación del Fútbol Argentino (AFA) organised a tournament to mark the 100th anniversary of the May Revolution. The Copa Centenario Revolución de Mayo was contested by the national teams of Argentina, Chile and Uruguay and is considered to be a precursor to the South American Championship. Argentina won the competition after defeating both Chile and Uruguay.
Six years later, the AFA organised a second tournament, this time to celebrate the centenary of the Argentine Declaration of Independence. Alongside the three who had contested the Copa Centenario Revolución de Mayo, Brazil were invited to compete and the South American Championship was born.
Format
The tournament was played as a round-robin where each team would play all of the others once. The winner would be decided by the total number of points obtained across all matches played.
Participants
Squads
Venue
All matches were held at the Estadio GEBA in Buenos Aires except for the last match which was suspended before being completed at the Estadio Racing Club in Avellaneda.