Copa America top scorers history: Best players and the Golden Boot

The Copa America top scorer board had always been a highlight of the tournament, keeping the fans curious to see who ends up scoring the most goals. From Brazilian legend, Zizinho, scoring seventeen goals in the Copa America to the Argentine hero, Gabriel Batitstuta bagging thirteen, all the greats of the game have left their legacy in this competition.

Copa America 2024 will be no different, with expectations for more goals and top-class performances throughout this historic tournament. We delve into the history of the Golden Boot and its importance for the players aiming to win this prestigious individual award.

Top goalscorers in Copa America history

History could be made in this year’s Copa America as Paolo Guerrero, Lionel Messi, and Eduardo Vargas are just 3-4 goals away from legendary Norberto Mendez and Zizinho. Both sit at the top of Copa America’s top scorers list with 17 goals each. Guerrero, Messi, and Vargas will do all they can to reach this feat as the trio will want team and individual success.

We showcase a list of all-time scorers in Copa America history and delve deeper into some of their records and history:

Eduardo Vargas

Vargas’s club career has seen him travel across South America and parts of Europe, playing for clubs such as Napoli, Valencia, and Flamengo, in a career marked by success. The Chilean has currently a 14-goal mark, only 3 goals away from the two top scorers and he usually starts the game as a sub, but that won’t stop him trying to make history.

Eduardo Vargas of Chile celebrates scoring his team’s first goal during the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil. Jamie Squire/Getty Images

Severino Varela

Varela played in five Copa Americas and notched up 15 goals, earning him status as a Uruguayan soccer great. The forward played most of his soccer club career locally but did have a stint with Argentinian powerhouse Boca Juniors.

Teodoro Fernandez

Fernandez played a big role in his team’s success through the 1930s and 1940s. His seven goals in the 1939 Copa America landed him the Golden Boot Award as well as Peru’s first-ever Copa America trophy.

Fernandez always played his soccer locally and never ventured abroad. He is a club legend at Universitario and a national hero, sitting third among Peru’s all-time goal scorers. His 15 goals in the Copa America stand as a record for a Peruvian player, but with Paolo Guerrero only one goal behind and appearing in this year’s tournament, it looks likely he will equal or surpass Fernandez’s record.

Zizinho (Thomaz Soares da Silva)

Joint Copa America all time top scorer, Zizinho, amassed an amazing 17 goals during his time in the tournaments. He was not only good at finding the back of the net but his dazzling dribbling skills inspired a host of Brazilian players, including the soccer icon “O Rei” Pele, who often said that Zizinho was the best Brazilian footballer he had ever seen play.

Zizinho never won the Golden Boot but his goals over five Copa America tournaments earned him a place at the top of the list of goal scorers in Copa America history. He definitely would have been a player that everyone would have loved to watch.

Zizinho holding the Copa America trophy. @CBF_Futebol

Norberto Mendez

Mendez’s 17 goals in the Copa America place him as the joint-top scorer of the competition. The amazing part of this feat is that he only played 31 times for his country. He won the Golden Boot in 1945, scoring 6 goals, and in 1946, with 5 goals

His short international career and goals-to-game ratio mark Mendez as one of the greatest of football and the Copa America tournament. Messi will be chasing down his record in this year’s tournament.

Who will win the Copa America Golden Boot?

Winning the Golden Boot is always an individual prize for the forwards, wingers, or attacking midfielders. Scoring the most goals in the tournament would be a proud achievement and something no player will forget.

Here are this year’s Copa America’s top 10 favorites to win the Golden Boot: