The 1927 South American Championship () was the 11th international association football championship for members of the Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (CONMEBOL). Hosted by Peru, the competition ran from 30 October – 27 November 1927 and was contested by the national teams of Argentina, Bolivia, Peru and Uruguay. For the first time, the competition was used as a qualifier for the Summer Olympics.
Argentina won the competition for the third time after defeating Peru 5–1 in the final match of the round-robin tournament. Winners Argentina and runners-up Uruguay qualified to compete at the 1928 Summer Olympics.
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. 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. During the competition, the four associations of the competing teams met on 9 July 1916 and founded the Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (CONMEBOL).
Uruguay were the defending champions having won the 1926 edition after defeating Paraguay 6–1 in their final match of the competition. Uruguay were also the most successful team in the history of the competition having won the six of the first 10 editions.
Brazil, Chile and Paraguay withdrew prior to the start of the competition so only four of the seven CONMEBOL members would compete.
The Argentina team departed from Retiro railway station, Buenos Aires as they travelled Valparaíso, Chile on their way to Peru. There, they joined the Uruguay team and boarded a ship to the port of Callao, Lima. They arrived in Peru after eight days.
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. The winners and runners-up of the tournament would qualify for the 1928 Summer Olympics.