The 1988 South American Under-16 Football Championship (Spanish: Campeonato Sudamericano Sub-16 Ecuador 1988, Brazilian Portuguese: Campeonato Sul-Americano Sub-16 Ecuador 1988) was the 3rd edition of the South American Under-17 Football Championship, a football competition for the under-16 national teams in South America organized by CONMEBOL.

[1] Brazil were crowned champions, and together with Argentina and Colombia, which were the top three teams of this tournament, qualified for the 1989 FIFA U-16 World Championship in Scotland.

The venues were Estadio Olímpico, Ibarra, Cotacachi and Atuntaqui.

When teams finished level of points, the final rankings were determined according to: All times local, ECT (UTC−5).

The following three teams from CONMEBOL qualified for the 1989 FIFA U-16 World Championship.