1959 South American Championship (Ecuador)
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country | Ecuador |
| Dates | 5–25 December |
| Teams | 5 (from 1 confederation) |
| Venue(s) | 1 (in 1 host city) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Uruguay (10th title) |
| Runners-up |  Argentina |
| Third place |  Brazil |
| Fourth place |  Ecuador |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 10 |
| Goals scored | 40 (4 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | José Sanfilippo (6 goals) |
The 1959 South American Championship held in Ecuador was an extra South American Championship for the year. The tournament was contested between five teams; Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, and Peru did not participate, whilst Brazil attended with a team from Pernambuco. Uruguay won their 10th South American title.
Format
The format was the same as other tournaments; it was a round-robin tournament, awarding two points for a win, one for a draw, and nothing for a defeat. The team with the most points at the end was declared the tournament winner.
Venues
| Guayaquil |
|---|
| Estadio Modelo |
| Capacity: 42,000 |
|
Squads
Standings
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uruguay
|
4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 1 | +12 | 7 |
| Argentina
|
4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 5 |
| Brazil
|
4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 10 | −3 | 4 |
| Ecuador
|
4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 9 | −4 | 3 |
 Paraguay
|
4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 11 | −5 | 1 |
Matches
| Brazil | 3–2 | Paraguay |
|---|---|---|
Paulo  25', 39', 55' |
Parodi 72', 90' |
| Uruguay | 4–0 | Ecuador |
|---|---|---|
| 52' |
| Argentina | 4–2 | Paraguay |
|---|---|---|
| 81' |
Insfrán 30' Cabral 90' |
| Uruguay | 3–0 | Brazil |
|---|---|---|
| 75' |
| Ecuador | 1–1 | Argentina |
|---|---|---|
| Raffo 20' |
Sosa 62' |
| Uruguay | 5–0 | Argentina |
|---|---|---|
| 25' |
| Brazil | 3–1 | Ecuador |
|---|---|---|
| 45' |
Raffo 12' |
| Argentina | 4–1 | Brazil |
|---|---|---|
| 27', 89', 90' |
Geraldo 64' |
| Paraguay | 1–1 | Uruguay |
|---|---|---|
| Parodi 32' |
Sasía 88' |
| Ecuador | 3–1 | Paraguay |
|---|---|---|
| 74' |
Gómez 5' (o.g.) |
Result
| 1959 South American Championship champions |
|---|
 Uruguay 10th title |
Goalscorers
With six goals, José Sanfilippo of Argentina is the top scorer in the tournament. In total, 40 goals were scored by 21 different players, with only one of them credited as own goal.
- 6 goals
- 4 goals
- Mario Ludovico Bergara
- Paulo Pisaneschi
- 3 goals
- 2 goals
- Geraldo José da Silva
Carlos Alberto Raffo
Guillermo Escalada
- 1 goal
Juan José Pizzuti- Omar Higinio García
- Rubén Héctor Sosa
Zé de Mello- Alberto Pedro Spencer
- Climaco Cañarte
- José Vicente Balseca
Eligio Antonio Insfrán- Pedro Antonio Cabral
- Domingo Pérez
- Own goal
- Rómulo Gómez (playing against Paraguay)
Controversy
Originally, the 1959 Copa America was scheduled to be hosted by Ecuador. However, due to financial difficulties and infrastructure challenges, Ecuador withdrew as the host nation just a few months before the tournament was set to begin. This sudden withdrawal left CONMEBOL in a difficult situation to find a replacement host at such short notice.
In response to Ecuador's withdrawal,
However, a disagreement arose among some South American nations regarding the legitimacy of Argentina being granted the hosting rights without a proper bidding process. A group of countries, including Brazil, Uruguay, and Chile, refused to participate in the tournament hosted by Argentina and organized their own competition called the "Copa del Atlántico", in response.
Meanwhile, Argentina went ahead with its plans and organized the Copa America as scheduled, inviting other CONMEBOL member nations to participate. The tournament took place from March 7 to April 4, 1959, and was won by Argentina.
After Argentina's tournament concluded, the dissenting nations decided to organize their own Copa America tournament to run parallel to the one hosted by Argentina. This second tournament, known as the
The decision to hold a second Copa America in Ecuador was made to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of