The Copa América is South America's major tournament in senior men's soccer and determines the continental champion. It is the oldest continental championship in the world with its first edition held in 1916. Until 1967, the tournament was known as South American Championship. It was that last edition of the old format when Venezuela participated for the first time.
Venezuela did not win a match in twelve consecutive participations from 1975 to 2004. They have never been in the top three, and are the only CONMEBOL member to be outside the top ten of the Copa América's all-time table, because regular invitee Mexico surpassed them.
Overall record
| South American Championship / Copa América record | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | Position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | Squad |
 1916 | Did not participate | ||||||||
 1917 | |||||||||
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} 1919 | |||||||||
 1920 | |||||||||
| 1921 | |||||||||
| 1922 | |||||||||
| 1923 | |||||||||
| 1924 | |||||||||
| 1925 | |||||||||
| 1926 | |||||||||
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} 1927 | |||||||||
| 1929 | |||||||||
| 1935 | |||||||||
| 1937 | |||||||||
| 1939 | |||||||||
| 1941 | |||||||||
| 1942 | |||||||||
| 1945 | |||||||||
| 1946 | |||||||||
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} 1947 | |||||||||
| 1949 | |||||||||
 1953 | |||||||||
| 1955 | |||||||||
| 1956 | |||||||||
| 1957 | |||||||||
| 1959 | |||||||||
| 1959 | |||||||||
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} 1963 | |||||||||
| 1967 | Fifth place | 5th | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 16 | Squad |
| 1975 | Group stage | 10th | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 26 | Squad |
| 1979 | 10th | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 12 | Squad | |
| 1983 | 10th | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 10 | Squad | |
| 1987 | 10th | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 8 | Squad | |
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} 1989 | 10th | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 11 | Squad | |
| 1991 | 10th | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 15 | Squad | |
| 1993 | 11th | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 11 | Squad | |
| 1995 | 12th | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 10 | Squad | |
| 1997 | 12th | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | Squad | |
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} 1999 | 12th | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 13 | Squad | |
 2001 | 12th | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 7 | Squad | |
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} 2004 | 11th | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | Squad | |
 2007 | Quarter-finals | 6th | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 6 | Squad |
| 2011 | Fourth place | 4th | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 8 | Squad |
| 2015 | Group stage | 9th | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | Squad |
 2016 | Quarter-finals | 6th | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | Squad |
 2019 | 7th | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | Squad | |
| 2021 | Group stage | 9th | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | Squad |
| 2024 | Qualified | ||||||||
| Total | Fourth place | 19/47 | 70 | 8 | 17 | 45 | 52 | 180 | — |
Record by opponent
| Copa América matches (by team) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opponent | W | D | L | Pld | GF | GA |
| Argentina | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 30 |
 Bolivia | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 9 | 5 |
| Brazil | 0 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 2 | 27 |
| Chile | 1 | 2 | 7 | 10 | 4 | 25 |
| Colombia | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 11 |
 Ecuador | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 10 |
 Jamaica | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
 Mexico | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 7 |
 Paraguay | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 19 |
| Peru | 1 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 16 |
| United States | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| Uruguay | 1 | 2 | 6 | 9 | 6 | 21 |
| Total | 8 | 15 | 43 | 66 | 50 | 174 |
Record players
| Rank | Player | Matches | Tournaments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Juan Arango | 20 | 1999, 2001, 2004, 2007, 2011 and 2015 |
| 2 | José Manuel Rey | 18 | 1997, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2007 and 2011 |
| 3 | Salomón Rondón | 17 | 2011, 2015, 2016 and 2019 |
| 4 | Tomás Rincón | 16 | 2011, 2015, 2016 and 2019 |
| 5 | Roberto Rosales | 15 | 2011, 2015, 2016 and 2019 |
| 6 | Luis Mendoza | 13 | 1967, 1975 and 1979 |
| Pedro Acosta | 13 | 1979, 1983, 1987 and 1989 | |
| 8 | Stalin Rivas | 12 | 1989, 1991, 1993 and 1995 |
| Renny Vega | 12 | 1999, 2007 and 2011 | |
| Oswaldo Vizcarrondo | 12 | 2011, 2015 and 2016 |
Top goalscorers
With four goals, José Luis Dolgetta became the top scorer of the 1993 tournament and thus the only Venezuelan ever to receive a reward at a continental competition.
In 2007, Carlos Maldonado's son Giancarlo also scored a Copa América goal.
| Rank | Player | Goals | Tournaments (goals) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | José Luis Dolgetta | 6 | 1991 (2) and 1993 (4) |
| 2 | Carlos Maldonado | 4 | 1989 |
| Salomón Rondón | 4 | 2011 (1), 2015 (1) and 2016 (2) | |
| 4 | Rafael Santana | 3 | 1967 |
| 5 | Antonio Ravelo | 2 | 1967 |
| Juan Arango | 2 | 2007 and 2011 | |
| Gabriel Cichero | 2 | 2007 and 2011 | |
| Miku | 2 | 2011 and 2015 | |
| Darwin Machís | 2 | 2019 |