# 2023 South American U-15 Championship

The 2023 South American U-15 Championship was the 10th edition of the South American U-15 Championship (Spanish: CONMEBOL Sudamericano Sub-15), the biennial international youth football championship organised by CONMEBOL for the men's under-15 national teams of South America. It was held in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia between 4 and 19 October 2024.
The tournament was originally planned to be held between 17 November to 3 December 2023, but on 16 October 2023 CONMEBOL announced that it would be postponed to August–September 2024 due to unforeseen circumstances. The tournament was postponed for a second time on 30 August 2024, this time to be held in October 2024.
The South American U-15 Championship returns after 5 years because the COVID-19 pandemic forced CONMEBOL to cancel the tournament in 2021.
Brazil were the defending champions but failed to retain their title by being eliminated in the group stage. The final was contested by Paraguay and Ecuador, with the Paraguayans winning their third title after beating the Ecuadorians 4–3 on penalties. Argentina finished third after defeating Chile 2–1 in the play-off for third place.

## Teams

All ten CONMEBOL member national teams entered the tournament. After two editions with invited UEFA teams, the tournament will once again contested by South American teams only.
| Team | Appearance | Previous best top-4 performance |
| Argentina | 10th | Champions (2017) |
| Bolivia (hosts) | 10th | Fourth place (2005) |
| Brazil (holders) | 10th | Champions (2005, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019) |
| Chile | 10th | Fourth place (2007, 2013) |
| Colombia | 10th | Runners-up (2004, 2011, 2013) |
| Ecuador | 10th | Third place (2009) |
| Paraguay | 10th | Champions (2004, 2009) |
| Peru | 10th | Champions (2013) |
| Uruguay | 10th | Runners-up (2007, 2015) |
| Venezuela | 10th | None |

### Squads

Each team was required to register a squad of 22 players, including at least 3 goalkeepers. After the postponement of the tournament from 2023 to 2024, CONMEBOL decided to maintain the original age group of players, so this edition was an U16 tournament. Players born on or after 1 January 2008 were eligible to compete in the tournament.

## Venues

| Santa Cruz | Santa Cruzclass=notpageimage| Location of host city. |
| Estadio Ramón Tahuichi Aguilera | Santa Cruzclass=notpageimage| Location of host city. |
| Capacity: 35,180 | Santa Cruzclass=notpageimage| Location of host city. |
Bolivia was named as host country of the tournament during the CONMEBOL Council meeting on 30 September 2022. This will be the fourth time that Bolivia host the tournament, having previously done so in 2005, 2009 and 2013. Bolivia was also initially selected to host the previous edition in 2019, however, the tournament had to be rescheduled in Paraguay as Bolivia was unable to host it due to the 2019 Bolivian protests.
Santa Cruz and Montero were initially considered as host cities with Estadio Ramón Tahuichi Aguilera and Estadio Gilberto Parada as venues. CONMEBOL later confirmed that the tournament would only be played in Santa Cruz, with Montero being ruled out.

## Match officials

On 18 September 2024, CONMEBOL announced a total of 11 referees and 22 assistant referees appointed for the tournament. The refereeing team for each match consisted of a main referee and his two assistants plus a fourth official.

### Note

* ^ $^†$ Non-FIFA referees.

## Draw

The draw of the tournament wIll be held on 12 September 2024, 12:00 PYT (UTC−4), at the CONMEBOL headquarters in Luque, Paraguay. The ten involved teams will be drawn into two groups of five. The hosts Bolivia and defending champions Brazil were seeded into Group A and Group B respectively and assigned to position 1 in their group, while the remaining teams were placed into four "pairing pots" according to their results in the 2019 South American U-15 Championship (shown in brackets).
| Seeded | Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
| Bolivia (9) (Hosts, assigned to A1) Brazil (1) (Title holders, assigned to B1) | Argentina (2) Paraguay (3) | Colombia (4) Ecuador (5) | Venezuela (6) Peru (8) | Uruguay (10) Chile (11) |
From each pot, the first team drawn was placed into Group A and the second team drawn was placed into Group B. In both groups, teams from pot 1 were allocated in position 2, teams from pot 2 in position 3, teams from pot 3 in position 4 and teams from pot 4 in position 5.
The draw resulted in the following groups:
Group A :
| Group A PosTeam A1 Bolivia A2 Paraguay A3 Colombia A4 Peru A5 Chile | Group B PosTeam B1 Brazil B2 Argentina B3 Ecuador B4 Venezuela B5 Uruguay |

## Group stage

The top two teams in each group advanced to the final stage.

### Tiebreakers

In the group stage, teams were ranked according to points earned (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers would be applied in the following order (Regulations Article 20):
* Head-to-head result between tied teams;
** Points in head-to-head matches among the tied teams;
** Goal difference in head-to-head matches among the tied teams;
** Goals scored in head-to-head matches among the tied teams;
* Goal difference in all group matches;
* Goals scored in all group matches;
* Fewest red cards received;
* Fewest yellow cards received;
* Drawing of lots.
All match times are local times, BOT (UTC−4), as listed by CONMEBOL.

### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Chile | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 1 | +7 | 12 | Final stage |
| 2 | Paraguay | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 1 | +6 | 9 | Final stage |
| 3 | Colombia | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 3 | |
| 4 | Bolivia (H) | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 9 | −7 | 3 | |
| 5 | Peru | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 8 | −6 | 3 | |
* 1 2 3 Tied on head-to-head points. Head-to-head goal difference: Colombia +2, Bolivia 0, Peru −2.

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Argentina | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 4 | +2 | 8 | Final stage |
| 2 | Ecuador | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 8 | −3 | 5 | Final stage |
| 3 | Brazil | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 5 | +2 | 5 | |
| 4 | Venezuela | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 4 | |
| 5 | Uruguay | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 3 | |
* 1 2 Head-to-head result: Ecuador 2–1 Brazil.

## Final stage

The final stage was played on a single-elimination basis and consisted of the semi-finals, third place match and final. If a match was tied after 80 minutes, a penalty shoot-out was used to decide the winner (no extra time was played).
All match times are local times, BOT (UTC−4), as listed by CONMEBOL.

### Bracket

The semi-finals matchups are:
* Semi-final 1 (SF1): Group A winners vs Group B runners-up
* Semi-final 2 (SF2): Group B winners vs Group A runners-up
| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| 16 October – Santa Cruz de la Sierra | 16 October – Santa Cruz de la Sierra |
| Chile | 3 (3) |
| Chile | 3 (3) | 19 October – Santa Cruz de la Sierra | 19 October – Santa Cruz de la Sierra |
| Ecuador (p) | 3 (4) | 19 October – Santa Cruz de la Sierra | 19 October – Santa Cruz de la Sierra |
| Ecuador (p) | 3 (4) | Ecuador | 0 (3) |
| 16 October – Santa Cruz de la Sierra | 16 October – Santa Cruz de la Sierra | | Ecuador | 0 (3) |
| 16 October – Santa Cruz de la Sierra | 16 October – Santa Cruz de la Sierra | Paraguay (p) | 0 (4) |
| Argentina | 2 (3) | Paraguay (p) | 0 (4) |
| Paraguay (p) | 2 (4) | | |
| Paraguay (p) | 2 (4) | Third place | Third place |
| | | 19 October – Santa Cruz de la Sierra | 19 October – Santa Cruz de la Sierra |
| | | Chile | 1 |
| | | Argentina | 2 |

### Final
## Goalscorers

There were 66 goals scored in 24 matches, for an average of 2.75 goals per match.
5 goals
* Zidane Yáñez
4 goals
* Riquelme Angulo
3 goals
* Thomas De Martis
* Justin Lerma
* Alan Ledesma
* Nicolás Azambuja
2 goals
* Dell
* Ruan Pablo
* Yastin Cuevas
* Vicente Martínez
* Kevin Angulo
* Thiago Aranda
* Mauricio De Carvalho
* Carlos Franco
* Yimvert Berroterán
* David García
* Yerwin Sulbarán
1 goal
* Santiago Espíndola
* Felipe Esquivel
* Facundo Jainikoski
* Uriel Ojeda
* Lautaro Pereyra
* Santiago Silveira
* Thiago Yánez
* Brayan Barrios
* Jesús Maraude
* Tiago
* Wesley Natã
* Joaquín Meneses
* Matías Orellana
* Agustín Silva
* Santiago Londoño
* Jhon Sevillano
* Edwin Quintero
* Samir Meza
* Fabio Vásquez
* Agustín Dos Santos
* Facundo Martínez
* John Mancilla
1 own goal
* Román Davis (against Brazil)

## Final ranking

As per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time were counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-out were counted as draws.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Final result |
| | Paraguay (C) | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 3 | +6 | 11 | Champions |
| | Ecuador | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 11 | −3 | 7 | Runners-up |
| | Argentina | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 7 | +3 | 12 | Third place |
| 4 | Chile | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 6 | +6 | 13 | Fourth place |
| 5 | Brazil | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 5 | +2 | 5 | Eliminated in Group stage |
| 6 | Venezuela | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 4 | Eliminated in Group stage |
| 7 | Colombia | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 3 | Eliminated in Group stage |
| 8 | Uruguay | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 3 | Eliminated in Group stage |
| 9 | Peru | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 8 | −6 | 3 | Eliminated in Group stage |
| 10 | Bolivia (H) | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 9 | −7 | 3 | Eliminated in Group stage |