Watch Online the 2011 Copa America Live on YouTube

As promised, YouTube has started streaming the 2011 Copa America, the South American football championship. All of the matches of the competition will be streamed live on YouTube and there will also be highlights and goal clips. It's the biggest sporting event streamed by YouTube so far and it's a great win for the video site.

"Last month we promised you access to the Copa America, and tonight it all kicks off," Ricardo Blanco, from YouTube Latin America, wrote.

"Today, South America’s biggest international tournament, the Copa America, begins live on YouTube," he announced.

"The Copa America will be broadcast in HD on YouTube in 50 countries at www.youtube.com/copaamerica. If you’re on the move, you can follow the matches on your mobile phone at m.youtube.com/copaamerica. Commentary of the matches will be broadcast in both English or Spanish depending on what country you’re tuning in from," Blanco explained.

All matches and videos will be available on the dedicated Copa America YouTube channel, which has already amassed more than two million views and 40 thousand subscribers.

Up until the competition, the channel hosted matches from the previous two editions of the cup as well as other historic clips.

But now that the competition is underway, current matches are being streamed live. Even if you don't get a chance to catch the whole match, there will be highlights and goal clips for all of them, so you can keep up with all of the action.

All of the matches, including the final on July 24 will be streamed in 50 countries. It should be interesting to see how much attention the competition will get on YouTube, but judging from what we have at this point it certainly looks promising. And if YouTube can prove that live streams on the site can make money, other competitions will surely join.