Copa América is packed with stars. Here are 16 to watch. (2024)

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The crowds of No. 10 jerseys at this month’s friendly against Guatemala in Landover, Md., proved it: Lionel Messi is still the biggest star in global soccer, and even as he turns 37, he’s still delivering for Argentina. The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner had two goals and an assist in his squad’s final Copa América tuneup and appeared in five of six World Cup qualifiers this past fall. On the club level, he has propelled Inter Miami to the top of the MLS standings with 12 goals and 13 assists in 12 games. For the first time, Messi enters this tournament as a defending champion: On the heels of its 2021 Copa América and 2022 World Cup wins, top-ranked Argentina is the favorite to win another trophy this summer.

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Since making his international debut in 2004, Guerrero has played in five editions of Copa América, reaching the semifinals in three of them. (He missed Peru’s fourth-place finish in 2021 with a knee injury.) The Universidad César Vallejo striker is Peru’s all-time leading scorer (40 goals) and is tied for the most Copa América goals among active players (14). At 40, Guerrero is past his prime years, but without many promising young talents waiting in the wings, he’ll still be called upon for a Peru team that didn’t win any of its first six World Cup qualifiers.

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His star may have faded on the club stage — strong stints at Barcelona and Arsenal were dimmed by an unsuccessful move to Manchester United — but Sánchez remains the biggest name on the field for Chile. The 35-year-old forward has 51 goals for La Roja, the most by any player, and led the front line when Chile won back-to-back Copa América titles in 2015 and 2016. After an 18-goal campaign with Marseille in 2022-23, Sánchez moved back to Inter Milan this past season and saw limited minutes off the bench. He has started nine of Chile’s past 10 matches, including a competitive 3-2 loss to France in a March friendly.

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The 23-year-old already has an impressive résumé: five Bundesliga titles and one Champions League crown with Bayern Munich; two Concacaf player of the year awards; 15 goals in 47 international appearances. In 2022, he scored Canada’s first goal at a men’s World Cup. The years since Les Rouges’ group-stage exit in Qatar have been tumultuous: After reaching the Nations League final in 2023, the team dealt with off-field financial turmoil, lost its coach and needed to win a playoff to qualify for Copa América. Through it all, Davies has been a constant in the midfield and at wing back. Serving as the team’s captain for the first time, he’ll hope to steady the ship.

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After years of middling results — El Tri hasn’t made it past the World Cup round of 16 since 1986 — Mexico is embracing its next generation of talent, and Giménez is on the leading line. The 23-year-old forward set a Dutch league record with 31 goals for Feyenoord in the 2023 calendar year. That prolific output has yet to translate to the international level, where Giménez has just four goals in 27 appearances, but there have been positive glimpses. He entered the 2023 Gold Cup final as a substitute in the 84th minute and scored four minutes later to give Mexico its ninth title in the competition. This summer should provide his best chance yet to prove his star power ahead of the 2026 World Cup, which is set to be staged in United States, Canada and Mexico.

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Chelsea shattered the British transfer fee record last summer when it signed Caicedo from Brighton for $146 million. The 22-year-old followed up with a strong season, making 48 appearances across all competitions and impressing with his composure and command as a defensive midfielder. At the international level, he’s a staple for an Ecuadorian side that came close to reaching the knockout stage of the World Cup in 2022. He started all six World Cup qualifiers in the fall as La Tri went 3-1-2, the lone defeat coming on a late Messi goal against Argentina.

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As a teenager, Herrera led Venezuela to the final of the 2017 U-20 World Cup, earning Bronze Ball honors as one of the tournament’s top players. He rotated through teams on loan in Manchester City’s network of clubs before inking a full-time deal with Spain’s Girona last summer. The 26-year-old was the midfield engine for what became a historic season: Girona finished third in La Liga, qualifying for the Champions League for the first time. Advancing out of Group B won’t be an easy task for Venezuela — in 19 Copa América appearances, it has only reached the semifinals once — but Herrera helps the cause.

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Typically, Aston Villa winger Leon Bailey or Philadelphia Union goalkeeper Andre Blake would headline the list of Jamaica’s top players. Both are in the 26-man squad for Copa América, but their statuses are uncertain: Bailey’s agent said the player had rejected the national team call-up, and Blake is recovering from recent knee surgery. That creates a window of opportunity for the likes of West Ham’s Antonio, who switched his national affiliation from England to Jamaica in 2021. This will be the 34-year-old striker’s second major tournament with the Reggae Boyz, but his ability to score — 67 league goals in nine seasons for West Ham, plus three in 12 games for Jamaica — should prove valuable.

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Having stepped up for the United States at his first World Cup, led his country to three straight Concacaf Nations League titles and put together a career year with AC Milan, the 25-year-old forward has shed concerns about untapped potential and morphed into the generational star fans long expected. Building on his crafty footwork and propulsive pace, Pulisic has refined his finishing prowess and set-piece proficiency to round out his lethality in the final third. After making just three appearances off the bench as 17-year-old at the 2016 Copa América, he’ll be champing at the bit to steer an ascendant U.S. squad back to the semifinals (or beyond).

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Big tournaments haven’t treated Uruguay well lately: La Celeste failed to get out of the group stage of the 2022 World Cup, and it hasn’t triumphed in a Copa América knockout game since winning it all in 2011. But with Diego Godín and Edinson Cavani retired from the national team and a 37-year-old Luis Suárez on his last legs, Valverde has emerged as the anchor of a rejuvenated, Marcelo Bielsa-led Uruguayan squad that sits second in CONMEBOL’s World Cup qualifying standings at 4-1-1 (including wins over Brazil and Argentina). An industrious central midfielder with an opportunistic eye for goal, the 25-year-old was an indispensable piece of the Real Madrid squad that paired its Spanish league title with the UEFA Champions League crown this season.

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After qualifying for its first World Cup in 2018 and just missing out on the 2022 edition, Panama reasserted its place toward the top of Concacaf’s hierarchy with runs to last summer’s Gold Cup final and this spring’s Nations League semifinals. Carrasquilla, a 25-year-old playmaker for the Houston Dynamo, has made himself integral to the squad as a cerebral string puller with the ability to impact games from deep-lying positions and the flanks. And he is coming off a career year in which he racked up eight assists in 25 MLS appearances and earned Golden Ball honors as the Gold Cup’s top player.

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Long CONMEBOL’s bottom feeder, Bolivia has failed to get out of the group stage in eight of the past nine Copa América tournaments, hasn’t qualified for the World Cup in three decades and is off to a 1-5-0 start to qualifying for the 2026 tournament. Whatever faint hopes the Bolivians have of making a run this summer will hinge on the youthful likes of Vaca, a 24-year-old playmaker for Bolivar who signed with the La Paz club last year after a stint with Belgian side Beerschot.

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The Vinícius era has arrived. With longtime attacking catalyst Neymar sidelined by a torn ACL, Brazil will be leaning on the 23-year-old Real Madrid forward as the star attraction of a front line that also features Madrid teammate Rodrygo and Barcelona’s Raphinha. The pressure’s on for a Brazilian team that lost the 2021 Copa América final to archival Argentina, crashed out in the World Cup quarterfinals for the second straight tournament and got off to an underwhelming 2-3-1 start to 2026 World Cup qualifying. If Brazil is to get back on track by lifting the trophy in South Florida next month, it’ll need plenty of production from Vinícius. Although the shifty and speedy attacker has recorded three straight 20-goal seasons for Madrid, he has just three strikes in 30 caps for the Selecao.

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After two solid but unspectacular seasons as a role player with Liverpool, the 27-year-old winger broke out this past campaign, racking up 13 goals over 51 appearances in all competitions. He also tied Messi as the Golden Boot winner at the 2021 Copa América and has scored twice during a 3-0-3 start to World Cup qualifying that has Colombia on its way back to prominence after it missed out on the 2022 tournament. Although 2014 World Cup hero James Rodríguez still captains Los Cafeteros, there’s no doubt that Díaz — a menacing threat cutting in from the left flank — is their attacking catalyst.

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A former MLS standout who powered Atlanta United to the 2018 MLS Cup title, Almirón has developed into a dependable contributor to surging English power Newcastle, hitting double-digit goals during its fourth-place 2022-23 Premier League campaign. Typically deployed as a right winger, the 30-year-old is a downhill attacker with a knack for punishing opponents in transition and pestering back lines with relentless pressing. Considering Paraguay hasn’t made the World Cup since 2010 or embarked on a deep Copa América run since 2015, Almirón will be eager to leave his mark on the international stage.

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With Bryan Ruiz retired, Keylor Navas stepping away from the international game and Joel Campbell a shell of his former self, Costa Rica is turning the page on the generation that powered its run to the 2014 World Cup quarterfinals. Enter Ugalde, a 22-year-old forward for Russian club Spartak Moscow with a nose for goal and intelligent movement in the box. After a dispute with former coach Luis Fernando Suárez froze Ugalde out of Los Ticos, he returned to the fold with the appointment of Gustavo Alfaro last year. Considering Costa Rica suffered a sobering 6-1 aggregate defeat to Panama in last fall’s Nations League quarterfinals, this squad sorely needs a new star (or six) to emerge and get the program back on track.