What is the Copa America Centenario?
If you don’t know what the Copa America Centenario is, don’t worry, we have you covered.
The Copa America Centenario is a 23 day long tournament that is usually held in South America, but this year it is making the jump to the United States. The tournament will begin on June 3rd and pins together the 10 members of the CONMEBOL (the South American soccer federation) and the two invitees from North and Central American countries.
This year the competition is celebrating it’s 100th anniversary, and part of that celebration was inviting six ‘outside’ teams to participate. The six teams are USA, Mexico, Costa Rica (2014 Copa Centroamericana winner) Jamaica (2014 Caribbean Cup winner) Haiti (Copa America Centenario qualifying play-offs) and Panama (Copa America Centenario qualifying play-offs).
The Copa America has had many of wonderful moments come from it, and has showcased the talented players coming from soccer hot-bed, South America. The likes of Pele, Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi and so many more great’s have played in this tournament.
Uruguay has been the most dominate, having won the the most titles with 15. One more than 2014 World Cup finalist Argentina and seven more than Brazil. The most recent winner is Chile, who won the tournament for the first time last summer against Argentina.
The U.S will kickoff the tournament on June 3rd, when they take on Columbia at San Francisco’s Levi Stadium. This will be the fourth time the U.S have participated in the Copa America and the first time a non-South American nation will host the historical competition.
The tournament structure will have four groups filled with four nations all fighting for a spot in the knockout stages of the tournament. The top two teams will advance and head into the round of 8 on June 16th.
Usually the winner would qualify for the Confederation Cup, a tournament compiled with the winners of each continents federations. However this Copa America is just for celebration, as it is the oldest international tournament in soccer.
For more Copa America coverage, visit our Copa America hub page.