The full Copa America Centenario schedule including the match dates in each venue – will be released Thursday.
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The final will be held at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
The special edition of the South American championship, the first to be played beyond the continent, will include 10 South American sides plus six from North America in an event to pay tribute to a century of South American football with some of the world’s top talent on display. Some of the sport’s biggest names will be in the U.S. for the tournament, with Lionel Messi likely to captain Argentina, Neymar a shoo-in for Brazil’s roster and James Rodriguez presumably set to lead Colombia. Most venues will host at least three games. More ticketing information will be released in the coming weeks.
As mentioned above, the Copa America is South America’s premier global tournament.
“Copa America Centenario 2016 in the United States is huge”.
From CONCACAF, host United States and Mexico are automatic qualifiers for next summer’s tournament, while Costa Rica (2014 Central American Cup winner) and Jamaica (2014 CFU Caribbean Cup winner) qualified with regional championships past year.
The final two spots will be determined next month when Panama faces Cuba while Trinidad and Tobago play Haiti in a one off playoff match to be hosted by Panama for being the highest ranked team in the Federation Internationale de Football Association rankings.
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If tied at the end of regulation, group stage matches will end as a draw, while knockout round games will move to two 15-minute periods of extra time. Along with East Rutherford, New Jersey the other nine cities are Pasadena, California (Rose Bowl/ Los Angeles area), Foxborough, Massachusetts (Gillette Stadium, Boston area), Seattle, Washington (CenturyLink Field), Phoenix, Arizona (University of Phoenix Stadium), Chicago, Illinois (Soldier Field), Orland, Florida (Citrus Bowl), Santa Clara, California (Levi Stadium/ San Francisco area), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Lincoin Financial Field), and Houston, Texas (NRG Stadium).
