CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament

CONMEBOL Preolímpico
Organizing bodyCONMEBOL
Founded1960; 64 years ago (1960)
RegionSouth America
Qualifier forSummer Olympics
Current champion(s) Paraguay (2nd title)
Most successful team(s) Brazil (7 titles)
Websiteconmebol.com/preolimpico

The CONMEBOL Preolímpico (English: Pre-Olympic Tournament) is an international association football event in the South America region organized by CONMEBOL. It is the qualification tournament for the football tournament at the Olympic Games.

In 1960, teams from North and Central America also entered the tournament.[1] Before 1984, only junior or non-professional players were allowed to participate.[2][3] In 1987 the competition opened to any player who had not played in World Cup (whether a qualifying match or at the final tournament).[1] Due to an International Olympic Committee ruling, since 1992, male competitors have been required to be under 23 years old, and since 1996, a maximum of three over-23-year-old players have been allowed per squad.[3][1]

The tournament was not held between 2007 and 2015, as the South American Youth Championship was chosen as the qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games.[4] The competition was re-introduced for the 2020 games.[5]

  1. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference rsssf was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ El Fútbol Masculino en los Juegos Olímpicos on AFA.org, 19 July 2021
  3. ^ a b Historia del fútbol en los Juegos Olímpicos: medallero, palmarés y ganadores by Alberto P. Sierra on As, 20 July 2021
  4. ^ Argentina campeón invicto; Paraguay, glorioso, también a los Juegos olimpicos on CONMEBOL, 25 Jan 2004 (archived)
  5. ^ "Colombia será sede del Campeonato Sudamericano Preolímpico Sub-23 del 2020". conmebol.com. 14 August 2018.