“Football is the most marvelous sport in the world”, Juan Angel Napout, the president of the South American soccer governing body CONMEBOL, said in a news release.
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The Copa America is a scaled down version of the World Cup with 16 teams rather than 32 but each city will host a minimum of three games.
Fans can visit www.CA2016.com for ticketing information as it becomes available. More information on the ticket allocation process will be communicated in the coming weeks.
“The Bay Area continues to attract the biggest matches in global soccer”, Earthquakes president Dave Kaval said in a statement. “With the MLS All-Star game in July and the Copa America Centenario in June, the summer of 2016 will once again be filled with big soccer events”.
The 2016 Copa America Centenario is the historic centennial edition of Copa America – the South American championship – and is being staged outside of South America for the first time.
The South American entrants feature former World Cup champions Brazil and Argentina.
As a host city, Seattle joins Boston (Gillette Stadium), Chicago (Soldier Field), Houston (NRG Stadium), Los Angeles (Rose Bowl), NY (MetLife Stadium), Orlando (Orlando Citrus Bowl Stadium), Philadelphia (Lincoln Financial Field), Phoenix (University of Phoenix Stadium), and San Francisco (Levi’s Stadium).
Similar to the Federation Internationale de Football Association World Cup, each venue will host matches on multiple days throughout the tournament.
Everbank Field had been one of 24 cities named a “finalist” to be a host back in January, but did not make the final list announced Thursday.
From CONCACAF, host United States and Mexico are automatic qualifiers, while Costa Rica (2014 Central American Cup winner) and Jamaica (2014 CFU Caribbean Cup winner) qualified with regional championships previous year. Two more teams from CONCACAF will be determined by double header playoffs set to be played Jan 8, 2016 between Trinidad & Tobago and Haiti and Panama taking on Cuba.
CONCACAF has announced the 10 venues for the 2016 Copa America Centenario.
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Several officials from the federations overseeing the North and South American regions, CONCACAF and CONMEBOL, were implicated in the corruption investigation, and bribery allegations involving the broadcasting and marketing rights for the tournament were at the center of the investigation.
