Formerly known as the South American Football Championship, Copa America is the oldest international continental football competition in the world. After yet another enthralling club football season, the whole world now shifts its attention to the United States of America (USA) which is set to host some of the high-profile footballing nations of the planet who are going to battle it out for the ultimate glory.
First held in 1916- exactly 100 years from now, Uruguay has garnered the maximum amount of success in the coveted tournament, having won it a record 15 times. Argentina (14 times) is the second most successful nation in the competition, followed by Brazil or the Selecaos as they fondly known (8 times).
As the world economic superpower is all set to host Copa America for the very time in the history of the tournament, the billions of football aficionados all over the world restlessly look forward to yet another enchanting edition of the coveted inter-continental competition.
With a host of footballing giants competing for the ultimate glory, it will be very difficult to say whether the traditional big boys of Latin American football (Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay) will come out on top or whether underdog nations such as Colombia, Chile or USA can scrape out yet another upset.
As the United States of America is set to face Colombia in match of the 2016 edition of Copa America later tonight, let us look at the top five jerseys to look for at the coveted inter-continental competition:
#5 Costa Rica
Costa Rica had previously featured in four editions of Copa America in 1997, 2001, 2004 and 2011 respectively. Having being ousted at Group Stage in 2011, Costa Rica had managed to reach the quarter-finals of Copa America back in 2001 and 2004.
The Central American country is all set to sport its traditional red (home) and white (away) footballing kits in the upcoming edition of the coveted competition. While the Costa Rican home kit is predominantly red in colour with shades of white in the collar area and at the base of the two sleeves, their away kit essentially bears a reversed colour combination.
The kits which are manufactured by New Balance (NB), also exhibits the jersey numbers in gold at the center along with the name of the manufacturer (left) and the flag of the country (right).
#4 Panama
Another Central American country, Panama is set to compete in the Copa America Centenario for the very time in the history of the tournament. Currently ranked 56 in the world, Panama has more than enough potential in its squad to rack up an upset or two.
The Central American country is going to exhibit a predominantly red coloured home jersey with a broad single white stripe that runs along the entire right stretch. Manufactured by New Balance (NB), the home jersey also showcases squad numbers in golden font along with manufacturer name (left) and the logo of its football association (right).
Panama’s away jersey has the same design layout which features white instead of red as its primary colour witha blue stripe.
#2 United States of America:
This year’s host, the United States of America had participated in three editions of Copa America previously. Although they were shown the exits at the end of the group stage in 1993 and 2007, the world economic superpower did exceedingly well to finish 4th in the 1995 edition of the competition.
Uncle Sam’s men are all set to flaunt a predominantly white home jersey with a lighter shade of blue at the shoulder area which extends up to its sleeves. There is also a fine red line which runs through the sides until the base of the jersey. It also exhibits the logo of the United States Soccer Federation (right) along with the logo of its manufacturer, Nike.
USA’s away jersey features black as its primary colour along with a red stripe on the right shoulder area and a blue stripe on the left shoulder area.
#2 Jamaica:
After a rather disappointing Copa America campaign back in 2015, Jamaica is all set to participate in the world's oldest intercontinental football competition for the second time in a row. Mostly well-known for its cricket and track & field scene, Jamaica has developed a lot in the recent years in order to make a mark in world football. The Caribbean island nation is ranked 46th in the world according to the latest FIFA rankings.
With Jamaica is all set to face Venezuela in its first group stage encounter of the competition, its footballers will be flaunting a yellow home jersey with the logo of its football association on the right along with that of the kit sponsors, Romai Sportswear on the left. The jersey also features a couple of zigzag portions- which exhibit the colour of the Jamaican flag - not only at the bottom of the shirt but also at the base of both the sleeves as well as near the chest in a V-shaped space.
#1 Ecuador:
One of the regular members of the CONMEBOL, Ecuador hasn’t been able to garner much of a success in the history of Copa America. The South American nation’s best performance(s) in the coveted competition came way back in 1959 and 1993 when they had managed to scrape out the 4th spot at the end of the respective tournaments.
The Ecuador national football team is going to sport a predominantly yellow coloured home jersey with a blue diagonal line running all over it. Moreover, the jersey also exhibits squad numbers in yellow (center) along with the logo of its football association (right) and kit manufacturer, Marathon Sports. Ecuador’s away jersey, however, is completely blue in colour with a couple of white lines running diagonally slightly right of centre.
