South America’s tournament is returning to the United States. CONCACAF and CONMEBOL announced a strategic collaboration agreement where they will partner for several tournaments over the next couple of years. The big piece of this partnership includes the announcement that the 2024 Copa América will be held in the United States.
The Copa América and will include all 10 national teams from CONMEBOL, with 6 teams from CONCACAF competing, including the USMNT. The tournament will be co-organized by both confederations. The 2023-24 CONCACAF Nations League determine who the 6 teams will be, and despite being the hosts, the USMNT will not receive an automatic bid to the tournament.
The 2024 Copa América gives the USMNT a huge opportunity to play competitive matches ahead of the 2026 World Cup. It will also give the country’s World Cup sites a chance to test logistics, security, and other details in preparation for the tournament.
In addition to the Copa América, CONCACAF and CONMEBOL are partnering for other tournaments. CONCACAF has invited the top 4 teams from South America to compete in the 2024 CONCACAF W Gold Cup. It will be the first time the tournament is held, and that will be played in the United States. The USWNT have already directly qualified for the CONCACAF W Gold Cup by winning last summer’s Conacaf W Championship. Through that tournament, they also qualified for this summer’s Women’s World Cup and the 2024 Olympics. The 4 South American teams have been determined based on the results of the 2022 Women’s Copa America: Brazil (champion) Colombia (runner-up), Argentina (third place) and Paraguay (fourth place).
Finally, a “final four” style club competition will be created featuring the 2 best club teams from each confederation. They hope to play the first edition of this new tournament in 2024. The last time the two confederations collaborated on a club competition was the Copa Interamericana, which featured the winner of the Copa Libertadores against the winner of the CONCACAF Champions’ Cup (the precursor to today’s Concacaf Champions League). D.C. United won the final edition of the Copa Interamericana in 1998 over Vasco da Gama.
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