Miami, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - The United States will host Copa America in 2016, CONCACAF and CONMEBOL, the governing bodies of North and South America respectively, announced Thursday.
The 2016 edition will mark the 100th anniversary of the tournament and will be the first time that the competition is hosted outside of South America.
"For the first time, Copa America comes home; comes north," said Jeffrey Webb, CONCACAF president. "What football can do is unite the Americas like never before and reach a previously unexplored pinnacle."
In addition to the 10 South American nations competing in the tournament, six countries from CONCACAF will take part. The U.S. and Mexico are automatically invited, as will the 2014 Copa Centroamericana winner and the 2014 Caribbean Cup winner.
"This is an irrefutable message that football is able to carry forward the best purposes as well as those who dreamt about football in South America and CONCACAF," said CONMEBOL president Eugenio Figueredo. "We value CONCACAF allowing us to build a joint history and we want to strengthen."
The tournament will take place from June 3-26, 2016. The bidding process to become a host venue has not yet been opened.
[SportsNetwork.com]
