- La Roja conquered its second title during the CONMEBOL Copa América Centenario™, played in 2016.
- For the first time, the tournament was held outside of South America, in the United States.
The CONMEBOL Copa América Centenario™ was held to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first edition of the world's oldest national team tournament, played in Argentina in 1916. For the first time, a country outside of South America hosted the tournament. The United States hosted the 16 competing teams, a record number of participants.
Chile won its second CONMEBOL Copa América™ during the 2016 edition, one year after winning the tournament for the first time in its history.
Alongside the ten representative teams of CONMEBOL, six countries from CONCACAF participated in the CONMEBOL Copa América Centenario™: Mexico, the United States, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Panama, and Haiti.
Under the technical direction of Argentine Juan Antonio Pizzi, Chile had a debut 2-1 loss against Argentina to start the tournament. However, they recovered in the second group stage match with a 2-1 victory over Bolivia and confirmed their qualification to the quarterfinals with a 4-2 win over Panama.
In a dream match for La Roja and a historic moment for the tournament, Chile defeated Mexico 7-0 in the quarterfinals, their largest victory ever in a CONMEBOL Copa América™, equaling a 7-0 against Venezuela in 1979. To qualify for the decisive match, the Chileans defeated Colombia 2-0, and in the final, after a 0-0 draw against Argentina, they were crowned champions by winning 4-2 in the penalty shootout.
In addition to the title, Chile also dominated the individual awards: Alexis Sánchez won the Golden Ball for the tournament's best player, Claudio Bravo won the Golden Glove for the best goalkeeper, and Eduardo Vargas was the top scorer of the competition with 6 goals.
Furthermore, with his feat, Eduardo Vargas became Chile's top scorer in the history of the tournament, tying with Enrique Hormazábal (10 goals each). Vargas would expand his tally with four more goals between 2019 and 2021.
Chile became the first country to win two editions of CONMEBOL Copa América™ by winning each final in a penalty shootout. Additionally, both were in consecutive years, against Argentina, and with a 0-0 scoreline in regular time.
Chile's Path to the Title
Group Stage
Argentina 2-1 Chile
- ARG goals: Ángel Di María (50’), Éver Banega (58’)
- CHI goal: José Fuenzalida (90+2’)
Chile 2-1 Bolivia
- CHI goals: Arturo Vidal (46’ and 90+9’)
- BOL goal: Jhasmani Campos (60’)
Chile 4-2 Panama
- CHI goals: Eduardo Vargas (14’ and 42’), Alexis Sánchez (49’ and 88’)
- PAN goals: Miguel Camargo (4’), Abdiel Arroyo (74’)
Knockout Stage
Mexico 0-7 Chile – Quarterfinals
- CHI goals: Edson Puch (15’ and 87’), Eduardo Vargas (43’, 51’, 57’ and 73’), Alexis Sánchez (48’)
Colombia 0-2 Chile – Semifinals
- CHI goals: Charles Aránguiz (6’), José Fuenzalida (10’)
Argentina (2) 0-0 (4) Chile – Final
- ARG penalty takers: Lionel Messi (X), Javier Mascherano, Sergio Agüero, Lucas Biglia (X)
- CHI penalty takers: Arturo Vidal (X), Nicolás Castillo, Charles Aránguiz, Jean Beausejour, Francisco Silva
CONMEBOL.com / OPTA
