The Copa America was won by Chile last year but the tournament will be back again next month. The Copa America Centenario is a celebration of the hundredth anniversary of CONMEBOL and the tournament. All of the South American teams will compete but the tournament will also have some CONCACAF teams. The tournament is almost here, so here are a few things to know about the event:
- It will be the first time that the Copa America is hosted outside of South America. Chile hosted last year’s Copa America. The host country, United States, will have games in ten different cities.
- There are ten CONMEBOL teams and six CONCACAF teams. The CONMEBOL teams are: Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. The CONCACAF teams are: United States, Mexico, Haiti, Jamaica, Panama and Costa Rica.
- The tournament was announced back in 2012, but it was almost cancelled after last year’s scandal. After weeks of speculation, talks about the tournament returned and fans are now waiting to watch it next month. The trophy was not unveiled after the 2015 Copa America Final but it was displayed in Colombia a few days ago.
- The tournament is just to celebrate the hundredth anniversary. The winner of this tournament will not qualify for next year’s Confederations Cup. Chile received the invitation by winning last year’s Copa America.
- This will be the 45th edition of Copa America. The most successful teams in this tournament are: Uruguay (15 titles), Argentina (14 titles) and Brazil (8 titles).
- There are four groups, where two qualify for the next round. Group A has the United States, Colombia, Paraguay and Costa Rica. Group B has Brazil, Ecuador, Haiti and Peru. Group C has Mexico, Uruguay, Venezuela and Jamaica. Group D has Argentina, Chile, Bolivia and Panama.
- Argentina and Chile will play in the second match of Group D. It will be a rematch of the 2015 Copa America final, which Chile won 4-1 on penalties.
- The groups seeds, United States, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico were announced in December. The match schedule was also announced that day.
- The rosters are not complete but a few stars have already been left out the preliminary teams. Yesterday, it was reported that Marcelo, David Luiz and Thiago Silva had been left out of Brazil’s roster. Surprising news as the three are currently playing in some of the best team’s in Europe.
The Copa America Centenario will begin on June 3 and the final will be on June 26.
