Why is Copa America in the USA?

(Image credit: Getty Images)

USA will host the 2024 Copa America in June this year, despite not being a member of the South American soccer confederation CONMEBOL.

But while countries from outside of South America have been regularly invited to play in the Copa America since 1993, when organisers expanded the tournament to 12 teams, it has been less common for a nation outside of South America to actually host the tournamet.

Indeed, USA have played in four Copa Americas before this summer, while Mexico have featured in 10. Only once has either nation actually hosted the tournament, though, so why is Copa America in the USA? FourFourTwo details the reasoning behind that decision below…

Argentina are the holders of the Copa America (Image credit: Getty Images)Why is Copa America in the USA?In 2016, the United States hosted the Copa America Centenario, which celebrated the 100th anniversary of the tournament. CONMEBOL and CONCACAF co-organised the tournament, and in doing so USA became the first nation outside of South America to host a Copa America, with 16 teams featuring rather than the usual 12.

That has since changed, though, with CONMEBOL and CONCACAF announcing in January 2023 a new strategic partnership, which aims to strengthen and develop football in both regions. A new men’s club tournament is just one of the initiatives the partnership will develop.

As part of the agreement, USA were announced as hosts of the 2024 Copa America, with the tournament expanded to 16 teams once again. The 10 South American sides will compete, while six from North and Central America qualified, too.

Though USA were hosts of the tournament, they still had to qualify just like other CONCACAF nations, like Mexico, Jamaica and Panama.

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Chile won the Copa America when USA hosted the tournament in 2016 (Image credit: Getty Images)However, the USA weren’t originally supposed to host the tournament.

A second rotation of hosting the Copa America among the ten member nations commenced in 2011, with Argentina organising that year’s tournament. As a result, Ecuador were actually scheduled to host the 2024 edition, due to the rotation order.

In November 2022, though, they declined to host the tournament, leaving Peru and USA as countries bidding for the Copa America.

CONMEBOL eventually decided to give the USA the tournament as part of the aforementioned partnership with CONCACAF, with the Copa America expected to head to Peru in the near future – if the rotation order is adhered to.

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Ryan is a staff writer for FourFourTwo, joining the team full-time in October 2022. He first joined Future in December 2020, working across FourFourTwo, Golf Monthly, Rugby World and Advnture’s websites, before eventually earning himself a position with FourFourTwo permanently. After graduating from Cardiff University with a degree in Journalism and Communications, Ryan earned a NCTJ qualification to further develop as a writer while a Trainee News Writer at Future.