Mexico will play in Glendale for Copa America Centenario; Pre-sale starts Thursday

By Francisco Romero

It has been called the greatest soccer tournament in the Americas, as 16 nations will gather in the United States to bring out one Copa America Champion.

It will be the first Copa America to be played outside South America and the City of Phoenix will be a host city.

The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF), the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) and the Copa America Centenario Local Organizing Committee (LOC) have picked 10 cities in the United States to host the matches to be played from June 3-26, 2016.

Most cities will host at least three games. The following are the metropolitan areas where the games will be played.

• Bay Area (Levi’s Stadium),

• Chicago (Soldier Field)

• Foxborough (Gillette Stadium)

• Houston (NRG Stadium)

• New York/New Jersey (MetLife Stadium)

• Orlando (Orlando Citrus Bowl Stadium)

• Pasadena (Rose Bowl)

• Philadelphia (Lincoln Financial Field)

• Phoenix (University of Phoenix Stadium)

• Seattle (CenturyLink Field)

The tournament is a special one; it is called Copa America Centenario because the event turns 100 years old. The first Copa America was played in 1916.

The first Copa America was played in Buenos Aires Argentina and was won by Uruguay.

For this edition of the Copa America CONCACAF and CONMEBOL have partnered; 10 countries from the CONMEBOL (Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela) will participate and 6 from CONCACAF (United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Haiti and Panama.

The Draw to determine group stage matches will take place on February 21st, 7:30 pm ET, at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. Seeding for the draw will be based upon 2015 FIFA World Rankings.

Mexico will be one of the teams to play in Glendale on June 5^th; Glendale will host two other games with teams determined by results.

Presale tickets for the tournament go on sale Thursday January 27 and tickets sales for the general public will start February 3^rd.