- Brazil became champions of CONMEBOL Copa América™ for the fifth time.
- Twelve teams participated in this edition, ten from CONMEBOL and two from Concacaf.
Bolivia once again hosted CONMEBOL Copa América™ for the first time in 34 years, and it would be a huge celebration, with ten national teams from CONMEBOL Member Associations plus two invites from Concacaf: Costa Rica and Mexico.
The Canarinha became champions away from home for the first time with a team led by Mário Zagallo and legendary players from South American football, such as Claudio Taffarel, Cafu, Roberto Carlos, Dunga, Romario, and Ronaldo.
The tournament had excellent storylines, with Bolivia playing a brilliant role, highlighting high-level football, and winning all their matches until reaching the Final. It was there they played Brazil who won all six of its matches, eventually lifting the trophy with a 3-1 victory in the Final.
Erwin 'Platini' Sánchez, Marco 'El Diablo' Etcheverry, and Milton Melgar were the stars of this great generation of Bolivian footballers.
Aldair and Dunga played their final matches with Brazil during this tournament. Both participated in 18 out of the 19 matches for the Brazilian national team between the editions of 1989, 1995, and 1997, without losing any of those games. Those two are the players with the most undefeated matches in the tournament’s history.
Brazil's 7-0 victory over Peru in the Semifinals of the CONMEBOL Copa América 1997™ was the biggest win in knockout stages in the history of the tournament (equaling Brazil's triumph over Paraguay in the 1949 final with the same scoreline). Subsequently, Chile would achieve the same feat (7-0 against Mexico in the 2016 quarterfinals).
The best match of the tournament was between Mexico and Brazil: the Aztecs took a 2-0 lead with goals from 'Pájaro' Hernández, but Brazil turned it around with goals from three reigning world champions: Aldair, Romario, and Leonardo.
Luis Hernández, Mexican forward, was the tournament's top scorer with six goals and scored the 2,000th goal of the oldest national team tournament in the world.
Argentina became the first country to reach 100 victories in the CONMEBOL Copa América™. This milestone was achieved in the only match won by Albiceleste in that edition: 2-0 against Chile.
– Brazil's Road to the Title –
Group Stage:
– Brazil 5-0 Costa Rica –
BRA: Djalminha (22’), Ronald González (OG 35’), Ronaldo (46’ and 51’), Romário (59’)
– Brazil 3-2 Mexico –
BRA: Aldair (47’), Romário (59’), Leonardo (78’)
MEX: Luis Hernández (13’ and 31’)
– Brazil 2-0 Colombia –
BRA: Dunga (11’), Edmundo (67’)
Final Stage:
– Brazil 2-0 Paraguay – Quarterfinals
BRA: Ronaldo (19’ and 34’)
– Brazil 7-0 Peru – Semifinals
BRA: Denílson (1’), Flávio Conceição (27’), Romário (35’ and 48’), Leonardo (45’ and 55’), Djalminha (77’)
– Brazil 3-1 Bolivia – Final
BRA: Denílson (40’), Ronaldo (79’), Zé Roberto (90’)
BOL: Erwin Sánchez (45’)
CONMEBOL.com / OPTA
