Association football is the most popular sport in almost all South American countries. There are a wide range of sports played in the continent of South America. Popular sports include volleyball, tennis, basketball, motorsports, combat sports, surfing, skateboarding, baseball, futsal, beach volleyball and table tennis. South America held its first Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016. Two years prior to this, major cities in Brazil hosted the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Team sports

Association football

South America and Europe share the supremacy over the sport, as all national team winners in FIFA World Cup history and all winning teams at the FIFA Club World Cup have come from these two continents. Brazil holds the world record at the FIFA World Cup with five titles in total. Argentina has three titles and Uruguay have two. So far four South American nations have hosted the tournament including its first edition in Uruguay (1930). The other three were Brazil (1950, 2014), Chile (1962), and Argentina (1978).

South America is home to the longest running international football tournament; Copa América, which has been regularly contested since 1916. Argentina have won the Copa América a record 16 times, followed by Uruguay with 15 titles and Brazil with 9.

About the FIFA Confederations Cup, Brazil is the biggest winner of all time with 4 titles. At the Olympic Games, Brazil has 2 titles, Argentina 2, and Uruguay 2. In the FIFA U-20 World Cup, Argentina has 6 titles, Brazil 5 and Uruguay 1. In the FIFA U-17 World Cup, Brazil has 4 titles.

The continent has produced many of the most famous and most talented players in history, including Pelé, Garrincha, Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Romário, Ronaldinho, Zico, Nílton Santos, Djalma Santos, Taffarel, Falcão, Rivaldo and Neymar (Brazil); Maradona, Messi, Di Stéfano, Batistuta, Passarella, Mario Kempes (Argentina); Luis Suárez, Enzo Francescoli, Cavani, Forlán, Obdulio Varela (Uruguay); Elías Figueroa, Iván Zamorano, Marcelo Salas, Alexis Sánchez (Chile); Carlos Valderrama, Radamel Falcao, James Rodríguez (Colombia); Carlos Gamarra, Romerito, Arsenio Erico (Paraguay); Álex Aguinaga, Alberto Spencer (Ecuador); Teófilo Cubillas, César Cueto, Claudio Pizarro (Peru).

At club level, teams like São Paulo, Palmeiras, Santos, Fluminense, Vasco, Botafogo, Internacional, Grêmio, Atlético Mineiro, Cruzeiro and Atlético Paranaense (Brazil); Boca Juniors, River Plate, Independiente, Estudiantes, Vélez Sarsfield, Racing and San Lorenzo (Argentina); Peñarol and Nacional (Uruguay); Atlético Nacional (Colombia); L.D.U. Quito and Independiente del Valle (Ecuador); Olimpia and Cerro Porteño (Paraguay) are among the main football clubs in the world.

Variations: futsal, beach soccer, footvolley

Brazil invented some variations of football, such as beach soccer and footvolley. Futsal, having been invented in Uruguay, neighboring Brazil, is also widely practiced in the country, mainly in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, neighboring Uruguay.

In futsal, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Paraguay are among the greatest world powers. Before the Fifa tournament, since 1982 there is the Futsal World Championship, organized by the former International Federation of Indoor Soccer (Fifusa) and now by the current AMF, where Paraguay are the current AMF world champions with four, Colombia three, Brazil & Argentina twice, and Venezuela once. In the Fifa tournaments, Brazil is the biggest champion of the FIFA Futsal World Cup, with 5 titles, with Argentina having a title in 2016. Falcão is the most renowned male Brazilian player.

In beach soccer, Brazil and Uruguay are among the world's greatest powers, with Brazil being the biggest champion of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, with 5 titles. In addition, it has nine world titles from the former competition organized by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW), the Beach Soccer World Championships.

Footvolley is a recreational sport widely practiced on Brazilian beaches, mainly in Rio de Janeiro, where it was invented.

Baseball Baseball is the most popular sport in Venezuela. In Colombia, Baseball is very popular in their north region, and has been gaining popularity recently in the other regions of Colombia. A wide list of players from Venezuela and Colombia are in the major leagues in the United States. Both countries are the only ones in this region to participate in the World Baseball Classic (plus Brazil) and the Caribbean Series.

Basketball

Basketball is particularly popular in South America. One of the most important achievements was the Argentina gold medal in Men's basketball at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Argentina won the World Championship in 1950. In Brazil, basketball became popular with the Brazil men's national basketball team winning the World Championship two times (1959, 1963) and the Olympic bronze 3 times. Oscar Schmidt is the most renowned male Brazilian player. The Brazil women's national basketball team is also one of the best teams in the world having won the 1994 FIBA World Championship for Women, obtained the Olympic runner-up in 1996 and the Olympic bronze medal in 2000, and with three players in the Hall of Fame: Hortência Marcari, Maria Paula Silva and Janeth Arcain. Also, in Venezuela, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia and Paraguay, basketball is widely played & very popular.

The FIBA World Cup took place in South America seven times: Argentina (1950, 1990), Brazil (1954, 1963), Chile (1959), Uruguay (1967) and Colombia (1982).

Cricket

Cricket is the most popular sport in Guyana. Apart from there, it is mostly played in the Southern Cone, especially in areas settled by English people. Although a number of South American nations have teams, none of them are major, except for the Guyana national cricket team, which plays in inter-regional competitions in the Caribbean. Guyana is also an independent nation represented by the West Indies cricket team, the only team in the Americas with Test status.

South American Cricket Championship is a limited overs cricket tournament played since 1995 by the national teams of the continent with North American teams also often invited to participate. It is currently played annually but until 2013 was usually played biennially.

Variants of street cricket are also played, such as bete-ombro in Brazil.

Field Hockey

Very popular in Argentina (2 times World Champion). The women's national team Las Leonas is one of the world's most successful, with five Olympic medals, two World Cups, a World League and seven Champions Trophy. The national team won the World Cup in 2002 and 2010. At the Olympic Games, it won the silver medal in 2000, 2012 and 2020, as well as bronze in 2004 and 2008. Las Leonas also won the annual Champions Trophy on seven occasions, in 2001, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016 and the World League 2014–2015. Luciana Aymar is recognized as the best female player in the history of the sport, being the only player to have received the FIH Player of the Year Award eight times.

The men's national team Los Leones won the gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics and the bronze medal at the 2014 World Cup and 2008 Champions Trophy. The national squad also won Pan American Games on ten occasions and the 2005, 2007 and 2012 Champions Challenges.

Rink Hockey Argentina has won the world cup 5 times.

Handball

Handball is a sport that came with German immigrants, which is very popular in schools around South America. It's the second most practiced sport in schools in Brazil. The Brazil women's national handball team is, in terms of results, the best handball team in the Americas. At the 2013 World Women's Handball Championship, they were crowned champions, defeating the host team 22-20. They also finished fifth at the 2016 Olympics.Handball, a sport of European origin that conquered BrazilThey are champions! Brazil defeats Serbia and wins its first world title The Brazil men's national handball team is considered the best in South America, with the Argentina men's national handball team being its biggest rival. Brazil's team has as its great feat having finished in 7th place in the 2025 World Men's Handball Championship, defeating European powerhouses of the sport and being eliminated only by the eventual champion of the tournament,Brazil stops in Denmark and closes the Handball World Championship with an unprecedented seventh position in addition to also having finished in 7th place in the 2016 Summer Olympics.Men's handball team says goodbye to Rio 2016 with the best campaign in the history of the Olympics

Polo

Polo is popular in some parts of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay. South America is the biggest winner of the World Polo Championship, with Argentina having 5 titles, Brazil 3 and Chile 2. Adolfo Cambiaso is an Argentine polo player considered one of the greatest references in the history of this sport.

Rugby union

Rugby union is becoming popular in South America, following the recent successes of Argentina in recent Rugby World Cup competitions (3rd place in 2007 and 4th place in 2015). The popularity of the game has spread across the continent. Uruguay, Paraguay, Colombia, Brazil, Chile, Venezuela, Guyana, Peru and Bolivia all have Rugby Federations.Rugby in South America

Volleyball Volleyball is the second most popular sport in Brazil. The Brazilian men's team has 6 Olympic medals (3 gold, 3 silver), 7 World Championship medals (3 gold, 3 silver, 1 bronze) and has won nine World Leagues, while Brazil's women's team has won two gold, one silver and three bronze medals at the Olympic Games, in addition to four runners-up and a third place at World Championships. In the 1980s, Peru women's national volleyball team was one of the strongest in the world, winning an Olympic silver medal in 1988, as well as a silver medal in 1982 and a bronze in 1986 at the World Championships. Argentina men's national volleyball team has won 2 Olympic bronzes in 1988 and 2020, and a bronze at the 1982 World Championship.

Beach Volleyball Brazil is one of the strongest countries in the world in beach volleyball, a sport widely practiced in the country due to its long coastline, mainly in Rio de Janeiro and in the Northeast Region of the country. Until the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, the country had 3 golds, 3 silvers and 2 bronze in the men's event, and 1 gold, 4 silvers and 2 bronzes in the women's events. Argentina, Chile and Venezuela usually send representatives to the Olympic Games, but without any significant results so far. In World Championships, in addition to several titles obtained by Brazilians, the Argentines Mariano Baracetti and Martín Conde were world champions in 2001.

Individual sports

Archery

Marcus Vinicius D'Almeida, in the recurve bow category, is the greatest male archery athlete in the history of South America, having been number 1 in the world in 2023, and world runner-up in 2021. The Chilean Denisse van Lamoen won a world title in the recurve bow in 2011, and the Colombian Natalia Sánchez was a world bronze medalist in 2009. In the Compound bow (which does not participate in the Olympic Games), The Colombian Sara López, multiple world champion, stands out.

Athletics

South American athletes have achieved international success in track and field. Notable athletes include:

Brazil: Adhemar Ferreira da Silva, Joaquim Cruz, Maurren Maggi, Thiago Braz, Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima, João Carlos de Oliveira, Robson Caetano, Fabiana Murer, Alison dos Santos, Nélson Prudêncio, Jadel Gregório, Zequinha Barbosa, Sanderlei Parrela, Claudinei Quirino, Vicente de Lima, André Domingos, Édson Ribeiro, Caio Bonfim, Rosângela Santos, Letícia Oro Melo, Mauro Vinícius da Silva and Darlan Romani.

Colombia: Caterine Ibargüen, Ximena Restrepo, Anthony Zambrano and Sandra Arenas.

Venezuela: Yulimar Rojas.

Ecuador: Jefferson Pérez.