All-Time Top Scorers at Copa America

This summer sees the 48th Copa America tournament with both CONMEBOL and CONCACAF teams allowed to compete. Argentina look to make history with a 16th title, but who are the all-time top scorers in this competition?

The title of the player with the most goals scored in a single tournament is held by three different players.

Jair scored nine goals for Brazil at the 1949 Copa America. In 1949 the tournament was played with 12 teams competing in table form with the top two playing in the Final. In the seven group games, Jair scored twice against Ecuador, one goal against Bolivia and two more braces against both Uruguay and Peru.

In the Final against Paraguay, Jair scored twice again in the 7 - 0 thrashing by Brazil.

The other two players with this title grabbed this title at the same tournament back in 1957.

Humberto Maschio appeared for Argentina in the six game tournament where he scored nine goals. He scored four times against Colombia, twice against Uruguay, twice against Chile and once against rivals Brazil as Argentina picked up their tenth title.

Javier Ambrois also scored nine goals at the 1957 Copa America for a Uruguay side that finished third. He picked off his campaign with four goals against Ecuador and backed this up with another four goal game against Peru. His final goal came against second-place Brazil.

Norberto Mendez made his international debut for Argentina in 1945 where he started his winning run at the Copa America.

At his first Copa America in 1945, Mendez was joint top scorer with Brazil’s Heleno. In six games, Mendez scored six goals.

Mendez started his scoring in the third game, where he picked up a brace against Colombia in the 9 - 1 win for Argentina. He scored the only goal in the 1 - 1 draw against Chile but also scored a hat-trick in a big 3 - 1 win against Brazil.

Another win for Argentina at the Copa America came the next year in 1946. In five games, Mendez scored five goals, equal with Angel Labruna and Zizinho and two goals behind Jose Medina.

Mendez picked up his first two goals of the tournament in the 7 - 1 win over Bolivia. He picked up another goal in the 3 - 1 win over Uruguay and scored twice in Argentina’s last game, a 2 - 0 win over Brazil.

The final Copa America win for Mendez came another year after in 1947. Mendez picked up another six goals in seven games.

He picked up a late goal in the opening game for Argentina adding another goal to the 6 - 0 win over Paraguay. The 7 - 0 win over Bolivia saw Mendez score twice and following a goal in the 2 - 0 win over Ecuador, Mendez picked up another brace against Uruguay in a 3 - 1 win.

Though Zizinho has only won the Copa America once, he is still intertwined with the history of the competition as joint all-time top scorer along with Mendez with 17 goals.

In the 1942 Copa America, Zizinho picked up two goals. His first goal came in the 5 - 1 win over Ecuador and his second goal came in the 1 - 1 draw with Paraguay as Brazil finished third.

The next appearance at the Copa America for Zizinho was in 1945, where he again scored twice for Brazil. He scored both of his goals in the 9 - 2 win for Brazil over Ecuador.

Zizinho picked up steam at the 1946 Copa America. Although Brazil still didn’t beat out Argentina, this time Zizinho picked up five goals. His first goal came in the 3 - 0 win over Bolivia and all of the other four goals came in the 5 - 1 win against Chile.

It was another five goal haul for Zizinho at the 1949 Copa America where Zizinho won his only Copa America title. A goal in the first game and 9 - 1 win over Ecuador set Zizinho up for a brace in the 10 - 1 win over Bolivia. Zizinho also grabbed goals against Uruguay and Chile.

At the 1953 Copa America, Zizinho grabbed just one goal. This one goal came against Chile in the 3 - 2 win for Brazil.

Zizinho’s last appearance at the Copa America was in 1957 where he picked up another two goals. He converted a penalty against Ecuador and grabbed a goal against Colombia.

Lolo Fernandez has a total tally of 15 goals at the Copa America over four different tournaments for Peru.

At the 1937 Copa America, Fernandez picked up two goals. His first came in the 3 - 2 loss against Brazil and his second came in the 4 - 2 loss against Uruguay.

The next appearance at the Copa America was in 1939 where he was the top scorer at the tournament with seven goals as Peru picked up their first title. He picked up a hat-trick in the first game against Ecuador, a brace against Chile and another two goals came against Paraguay.

At the 1941 Copa America, Fernandez picked up three more goals as Peru finished third. All three of these goals came in the 4 - 0 win over Ecuador.

The final two goals for Fernandez in the competition came in the 1942 tournament. The first goal came in the 2 - 1 loss to Brazil and his last goal in the competition came in the 3 - 1 loss to Argentina.

Severino Varela also has 15 goals at the Copa America. His first appearance in the competition was in 1937 where he picked up five goals.

The first game against Paraguay saw Varela pick up two goals, this was the game in his next game against Peru. His final goal of the tournament was in the 3 - 2 win over Argentina.

It was another five goal haul at the 1939 Copa America. A hat-trick against Ecuador and goals against Chile and Paraguay rounded out his performance in the competition.

His last appearance at the Copa America was in 1942 where he grabbed another five goals and his only title. Varela grabbed another hat-trick against Ecuador and goals against Brazil and Paraguay.

Paolo Guerrero has an impressive 14 goal haul for Peru over his Copa America career.

His first goal for Peru at the Copa America was in 2007 where he scored in the 3 - 0 win over Uruguay. He then backed it up with five goals at the 2011 Copa America where he scored against Uruguay and Mexico along with a hat-trick against Venezuela.

He picked up another four goals at the 2015 Copa America with another hat-trick, this time against Bolivia, and a goal against Paraguay. Guerrero scored once at the Copa America Centenario in the 1 - 0 win over Haiti.

His latest appearance was at the 2019 Copa America where he found the back of the net three times with goals against Bolivia, Chile and Brazil.

Of the players in the top 17 scorers at the Copa America, there are only two current players, Eduardo Vargas for Chile and Lionel Messi for Argentina.

Vargas is already in the top five with 14 goals and if he appears for Chile this summer he could find himself in the top three.

Messi currently sits on 13 goals at the Copa America and with his current form in the MLS he could make his way into the top five.