Copa America

The Copa America is the oldest national team tournament in world football. When the 2011 edition kicks off in Argentina on July 2 it will mark the 43rd time that teams from South America, as well as other invited nations with close ties to the CONMEBOL federation, have competed for the America Cup.

The Copa America has been won 14 times each by Argentina and Uruguay, and the defending champions in 2011 will be Brazil, who won the last Copa America in 2007 when they beat Argentina 3-0 in the final in Venezuela.

Copa America betting is dominated by the two giants of South American football, Brazil and Argentina. Copa America outright betting markets typically feature those two nations at short odds and the rest available at double-digits and better.

Brazil have in fact won four of the last five Copa America tournaments, stretching back to 1997. Colombia managed to lift the trophy in 2001 when they defeated Mexico in the final 1-0. The tournament was held in Colombia.

As there are only 10 member nations in the South American football federation other teams are typically invited to provide some depth to the Copa America tournament. Interestingly no invitee has ever won the cup to date, although Mexico have performed creditably on past occasions. All in all there have been seven victorious nations since the tournament started in 1916, when it was known as the South American championship.

These days the Copa America stretches out over a time frame of three weeks and features a round robin stage where teams compete in three groups of four teams each, followed by a knock-out phase. There are a wide variety of Copa America betting markets to choose from, with odds available from most leading bookmakers on the results of every game, as well as outright markets where one can bet on the leading goalscorer or simply on which team will win it all.