The Socceroos will tackle global superstar Lionel Messi and Argentina at next year's Copa America after Australia were drawn alongside the co-hosts.

Graham Arnold's men were drawn in Group A for the South American continental championship, which starts on June 12.

That means Australia will play their five group stages matches in Argentina against the two-time World Cup champions, Uruguay, Chile, Bolivia and Paraguay.

The Socceroos' opening match will be against 15-time Copa America champions Uruguay...

Former Colombia striker Faustino Asprilla has said he had to convince a hitman not to kill Paraguayan goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert after the two clashed in a World Cup qualifying match in 1997.

In a documentary broadcast on Colombian television channel TelePacifico on Tuesday, Asprilla said the gunman called his hotel room after both he and Chilavert were sent off in a qualifier in Asuncion, which Paraguay won 2-1.

The gunman, who was himself killed in a drug-related shootout in 2004, asked Asprilla...

Former South American football boss Juan Angel Napout has been banned for life from the sport and fined one million Swiss francs ($1 million) by FIFA, more than one year after being given a nine-year jail sentence by a U.S. Court.

Napout was sentenced by a court in Brooklyn, New York, in August last year and also ordered him to pay more than $4.3 million in financial penalties for crimes stemming from the corruption scandal that engulfed global soccer body FIFA in 2015.

He had been found guilty by...

In the Copa America final on July 7, Everton gave Brazil the lead, and Paolo Guerrero equalised for Peru before the hosts sealed a 3-1 win. Just three days later, both were in action for their clubs in the quarterfinals of the Brazilian Cup.

Once domestic football starts up, international tournaments are quickly brushed into the past, but it would be a mistake to do that to the Copa America. This year's tournament does not represent the end of a process; rather, it kicks off a new competitive...

Gabriel Jesus finally put the ball in the back of the net in a major tournament. It will not count as a goal in the record books -- but it ensured that Brazil beat Paraguay in the penalty shootout to make it through to the final four of the Copa America after regulation time ended in a 0-0 draw Thursday in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Lightning came close to striking for the third time. Paraguay eliminated Brazil after a shootout in the quarterfinals of the 2011 and 2015 Copas. The second time, Derlis...