| Tourney Name: | South American Youth Championship |
| Year: | 1979 |
| Size: | 250px |
| Country: | Uruguay |
| Dates: | 12–31 January |
| Num Teams: | 9 |
| Champion: | URU |
| Count: | 6 |
| Second: | ARG |
| Third: | PAR |
| Fourth: | BRA |
| Prevseason: | 1977 |
| Nextseason: | 1981 |
The South American Youth Championship 1979 was held in Montevideo and Paysandú, Uruguay. It also served as qualification for the 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship.
The following teams entered the tournament:
| width=25% | width=30% | width=15% | width=30% | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 January | 5–0 | ||||||
| 13 January | 4–0 | ||||||
| 18 January | 5–0 | ||||||
| 3–0 | |||||||
| 22 January | 2–0 | ||||||
| 1–0 |
| width=25% | width=30% | width=15% | width=30% | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 January | 6–0 | ||||||
| 2–1 | |||||||
| 14 January | 5–1 | ||||||
| 1–0 | |||||||
| 17 January | 5–0 | ||||||
| 1–0 | |||||||
| 19 January | 2–0 | ||||||
| 1–0 | |||||||
| 22 January | 5–1 | ||||||
| 1–1 |
| width=25% | width=30% | width=15% | width=30% | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 January | 0–0 | ||||||
| 1–0 | |||||||
| 28 January | 2–1 | ||||||
| 0–0 | |||||||
| 31 January | 1–0 | ||||||
| 2–1 |
The two best performing teams qualified directly for the 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship.
Paraguay also qualified, after winning an intercontinental play-off against Israel and Australia.[1] Matches were played in Asunción, Paraguay.
| width=25% | width=30% | width=15% | width=30% | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 February | 2–0 | ||||||
| 9 February | 0–0 | ||||||
| 11 February | 3–0 | ||||||
| 14 February | 0–0 | ||||||
| 16 February | 3–0 | ||||||
| 18 February | 2–1 |