USA Set the table, with six guests

The 2024 Copa América will take place in the United States and will feature the ten South American teams from Conmebol and six guests from Concacaf, the two confederations announced yesterday, which also agreed on other initiatives in club and women’s soccer.

The two institutions will assume the organization of the traditional South American tournament, which will be held in the boreal summer, after Ecuador gave up hosting it.

The next Copa América will thus serve as a prelude and preparation for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which the United States will co-organize together with its neighbors Mexico and Canada.

According to the joint statement, the six Concacaf invited countries will qualify for this competition through the 2023/24 Concacaf Nations League.

The United States already organized the special edition of the 2016 Copa América Centenario, in which other Concacaf teams also participated. Chile won the tournament.

The 2024 Copa América was scheduled to be held in Ecuador but the South American country resigned from the organization last year.

Within the framework of the agreement between the two confederations, a “final four” format club competition will also be organized in which the best teams from the continent will participate.

The four participating teams (two from each confederation) will qualify through the existing club competitions and the first edition of this tournament could be held in 2024.

Women’s Gold Cup. Another of the agreements will involve a collaboration in women’s soccer, since Concacaf will invite the four best teams in South America to play the new Women’s Gold Cup in 2024.

That tournament will also be held in the United States and will include the participation of Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and Paraguay.

“Conmebol and Concacaf are linked by historical and affective ties. But above all, we are united by the passion, characteristic of all America, for soccer and sport. We are determined to renew and expand our joint initiatives and projects,” Conmebol president Alejandro Domínguez said in the statement.