The 1921 South American Championship was the fifth continental championship for nations in South America. It was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 2 to 30 October 1921.
The participating countries were Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay (which debuted in this edition) and Uruguay. Chile was also invited but withdrew before the draw due to internal dissent, and an invitation was sent to Argentine dissident Asociación Amateurs de Football that originated a conflict with the Argentine Football Association (the official local governing body and organiser of the competition). after several friendly competitions won such as Copa Lipton or Copa Newton.
Squads
For a complete list of participating squads see: 1921 South American Championship squads
Venues
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
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! colspan=2 | Buenos Aires
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| Sportivo Barracas
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| Capacity: 30,000
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| 150px
|}
History
Background
The tournament was marked by the strong dispute between the Argentine Football Association (AFA) and dissident Asociación Amateurs de Football (AAmF, formed one year before). The AAmF had received an invitation from the Football Federation of Chile to play a tournament in that country. Most of the Big Five (with the exception of Boca Juniors) were affiliated to AAmF, which had 20 teams competing in their own championship. After the AAmF accepted the invitation, some of its most prominent players trip to Chile by train. Manuel Seoane, Humberto Recanatini, Luis Célico, Cándido García, Albérico Zabaleta, were among them. The invitation was taken as a pure provocation by the AFA, which requested South American Football Confederation (CSF) the FFCh to be punished.
Tournament
thumb|The tournament was a success, with high attendance to the matches, as shown in this photo
The inaugural match between Argentina and Brazil was attended by 30,000 spectators (although the maximum capacity of Estadio Sportivo Barracas was 22,000) due to reselling ticket for twice or more its original value. Brazil came into the field with no black players because they had been banned after a suggestion from the President of Brazil, Epitácio Pessoa. Therefore Arthur Friedenreich, considered the first star of Brazilian football, was not part of that team. Argentina won 1–0 with a goal scored by Julio Libonatti.
The final was attended by near 40,000 people, who were at the stadium three hours prior to the start. Argentina beat Uruguay 1–0 in the last match and won the competition after earning the most points (6 in 3 games). When the match ended, the players of both teams were raised by the crowd that had entered to the pitch and carried them to the hotel where the Argentine stayed during the competition, sited on the corner of Florida and Cangallo streets.
Argentina won all the games without conceding any goal, helped by the good performance of goalkeeper Américo Tesoriere, one of the most notable footballers of the team along with Julio Libonatti, who scored three goals (one per match).
Aftermath
thumb|150px|The crowd raising the Argentine and Uruguayan players after the final match. The championship was a sporting and commercial success, consolidating the huge popularity of football in Argentina
The large number of people who attended the matches at Sportivo Barracas and the celebrations after the victory consolidated football as a popular passion throughout the country.
The South American championship was also a commercial success, with $147,033 income from ticket sales and a $15,000 donation from the Buenos Aires City Council against total expenses of $113,801; this gave a profit of $48,232, a substantial sum at a time when football was still amateur in Argentina. </small>
Result
Goal scorers
3 goals
thumb|150px|Julio Libonatti, top scorer
- Julio Libonatti
2 goals
- Machado
- Ángel Romano
1 goal
- Raúl Echeverría
- Blas Saruppo
- Candiota
- Zezé
- Ildefonso López
- Gerardo Rivas
- José Piendibene