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The tournament was only named as Copa America in 1975. Previously, it was known as sup Campeonato Sudamericano de Selecciones (South American Championship of National Teams). Last time, the competition was played in a home and away format but now, teams battle it out over month in two separate stages.
GROUP STAGES
The two stages are divided to the Group Stages and the Knockout stages. Let's first focus on the Group stages. In this stage, 12 teams are divided into three groups with four teams in each one of them. During the draw to assign the teams to their groups, all of the teams, including the host nation were seeded according to the FIFA World Rankings and are distributed into several pots. They are then drawn randomly from those pots and placed in those three groups mentioned above.
Each of those groups will play a round robin tournament whereby each team in a particular group will face the other teams in the same group. Points will be used to rank the teams in their respective groups.
3 points = A Win
1 point = A Draw
0 Point = A Loss
The top two teams from each and every group will advance to the knockout stages. Two of the best third placed teams will also progress into the next stage. The ranking in each groups are determined as following:
1. Greatest number of points accumulated from the three matches.
2. Goal difference in all group matches. (Goals scored - Goals conceded)
3. Greatest number of goals scored in all group matches.
If two or more teams are equal on all this criteria mentioned above, the following decisions will be implemented next:
1. Greatest number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned.
2. Goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned
3. Greater number of goals scored in all group matches between the teams concerned
4. Drawing of lots by the CONMEBOL Organising Committee
KNOCKOUT STAGES
Eight teams that make it through the Group Stages will then contest the knockout stages where each team will participate in a single-elimination competition. They will be paired randomly against each other and the winners will be decided over 90 minutes and if it's still tied then, an extra time period with 15 minutes in each halves will be introduced before finally leaving it to penalties if the score remains tied.
From the quarter-finals, the same principle will apply to the semi-finals before the third-placing match which involves the two defeated teams during the semi finals stage and of course the final.
