The 2016 Copa América Centenario, a celebration of soccer's oldest international tournament, will open in one of the United States' youngest stadiums.
CONCACAF, CONMEBOL and the tournament's local organizing committee announced on Thursday the complete schedule and venues for all 32 games, with Levi's Stadium set to host the opening game, featuring the United States national team, on June 3.
The home of the NFL's San Francisco 49ers – located in Santa Clara, California – is less than two years old, but has already played host to such teams as Manchester United, Barcelona, and the Mexican national team in friendlies. Now, the venue will get a chance to host a competitive international tournament with more of the world's elite teams.
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The top seeds for the tournament, a 16-team competition featuring the top teams from the Western Hemisphere, were also revealed on Thursday. As the host nation the United States earns the top Group A seed, while Argentina – the highest FIFA-ranked nation in the Americas – will be seeded at the top of Group D. Brazil and Mexico are the other two seeded teams and will head Groups B and C, respectively.
The tournament field consists of all 10 CONMEBOL teams, plus six teams from CONCACAF. The remaining 12 non-seeded teams will be sorted into the four groups in a public draw in early 2016. Details for the draw will be announced closer to the event.
After the June 3 opener, Brazil will culminate the first full day of competition on June 4 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, with Seattle’s CenturyLink Field and Orlando’s Citrus Bowl also playing host to matches that day. The USMNT will play their second Group A match June 7 at Chicago’s Soldier Field before wrapping up group play June 11 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
Mexico will open tournament play on June 5 at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. They will also play group-stage games at the Rose Bowl (June 9) and Houston's NRG Stadium (June 13).
CenturyLink, MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, New England’s Gillette Stadium and Levi’s Stadium will play host to the four quarterfinals matches on June 16-18. The semifinals will be played June 21 and 22 at NRG Stadium and Soldier Field.
The third-place match is set for June 25 in Glendale and the championship will take place June 26 at MetLife Stadium.
Fans can visit the newly-launched tournament website to register for tickets at CA2016.com, and follow tournament news at the event’s official Twitter account, @CA2016, and facebook.com/2016CopaAmericaCentenario.
The tournament will feature six teams from CONCACAF and all 10 teams from CONMEBOL. The host metropolitan areas and stadiums are: Foxborough, Massachusetts (Gillette Stadium), Chicago (Soldier Field), Houston (NRG Stadium), Pasadena, California (Rose Bowl), New York/New Jersey (MetLife Stadium), Orlando, Florida (Orlando Citrus Bowl Stadium), Philadelphia (Lincoln Financial Field), Phoenix/Glendale, Arizona (University of Phoenix Stadium), San Francisco Bay Area (Levi’s Stadium) and Seattle (CenturyLink Field).
