Grab your burgers, hot dogs, and root beers because, for the second time in its history, Copa America is being held in the United States.
But what is this Copa America, I hear you ask?
It's only the longest-running continental football competition, one that has played host to some of the greatest legends of the game including Lionel Messi, Pele, Diego Maradona, and Neymar.
This summer, across 12 American cities and 14 stadiums, South America's finest — including Brazil, Uruguay, and a Messi-led Argentina — will compete again to take the title of Champions of South America (and Others).
To round out the numbers, the United States, Mexico, and a few other North and Central American countries have been invited to join the fun, too.
Here, The Athletic has broken down everything you need to know about the tournament, from the favorites and the format to its 108-year history filled with brilliance and drama.
The last time it was held Stateside was in 2016 for Copa America Centenario, the tournament's 100th anniversary.
Though that tournament ended badly for Messi, losing out on a first senior international trophy in a penalty shootout to Chile, it provided the iconic moment where he endeared himself to the people of Argentina by breaking down in tears on the pitch.
He's since added a World Cup and a Copa America to his trophy cabinet, so don't bet on those theatrics again.
This year, the final will be held at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, home of the Miami Dolphins. It will be one of 14 stadiums used for the tournament across 12 cities: East Rutherford, Orlando, Charlotte, Atlanta, Kansas City, Arlington, Houston, Austin, Glendale, Las Vegas, Inglewood and Santa Clara.
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Other than 2016 and this year, Copa America has only ever been held in South America.
In 1984, CONMEBOL, the football governing body in South America, began rotating the right to host the tournament among its members, with the first rotation culminating in 2007 in Venezuela.
The second rotation began in 2011, but hosting the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics proved too much for Brazil, which was scheduled to host Copa America in 2015. Chile eventually hosted that tournament, and Brazil took the responsibility in 2019 and 2021.
Argentina has hosted more editions than any other country (nine times), most recently in 2011. Paraguay, Colombia, and Venezuela are the only CONMEBOL nations that have not hosted it more than once.
This summer, the 16-team tournament will begin with four groups of four teams. After each team has played their group opposition once, the top two will advance.
During the group phase, teams earn three points for a win, one for a draw, and zero if they lose. If you're anti-draw, we advise you to wait until the knockout stage, where there must be a winner. If the scores are tied after 90 minutes, extra time is used, and if the scores are still level after two 15-minute halves, the match will be decided using penalty kicks.
The knockout stage consists of three rounds: the quarter-finals, semifinal, and final, one fewer round than the European Championship. In the quarter-final stage, teams that finished top of their group will play against a team that finished second. If a team progresses past that stage, they will play the semifinal. If they're successful there, the July 14 final awaits.
If this is your first Copa America, count yourself lucky. It is not usually this way.
In 2021, there were only 10 participants, meaning two five-team groups, each playing four group games. The top four from each group made it to the knockout stage, thus eliminating only two teams in the group phase. This year is only the second time there have been 16 competing nations, with 12 being the most common since guest nations were introduced in 1993.
More on those later.
Group A: Argentina, Peru, Chile, Canada
Group B: Mexico, Ecuador, Venezuela, Jamaica
Group C: USMNT, Uruguay, Panama, Bolivia
Group D: Brazil, Colombia, Paraguay, Costa Rica
Uruguay are international football, perennial overachiever, consistently performing well in tournaments despite a population of only around 3.5 million.
They won the tournament's first edition on their way to collecting six of the first nine and 15 in total, a record they share with Argentina.
Like Uruguay, Argentina had most of its success before the tournament changed its name from the South American Football Championship in 1975, winning 12 of their 15 trophies before 1960. In 2021, however, they got their hands on the trophy again, inspired by Messi, who was seven when Argentina previously won the competition in 1993.
Over the past three decades, Brazil has been the dominant team in South America, collecting five of their nine trophies since ending a 40-year drought in 1989. They were back-to-back winners in 1997, 1999, 2004, and 2007, off the back of a golden generation of Brazilian talent, including Ballon d'Or winners Ronaldo (not the superstar from Portugal), Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, and Kaka.
Chile had a golden spell in the mid-2010s, winning back-to-back trophies in 2015 and 2016, the only two wins in their history. Paraguay and Peru have also won it a couple of times, and Bolivia and Colombia have one each, both winning as host nations.
Ecuador and Venezuela are the only CONMEBOL nations that have never won the trophy. They have come relatively close, finishing fourth in the 1993 and 2011 editions but have never reached the final.
However, Venezuela has written history in a less desirable way. They hold the dishonor of not winning a single match in 12 consecutive participations from 1975 to 2004 and are the only South American team to rank outside the top 10 of the tournament's all-time rankings, surpassed by Mexico, a frequent guest nation.
Unlike UEFA, Europe's governing body, which has 55 member nations and holds qualifiers for their 32-team equivalent, CONMEBOL is FIFAs smallest confederation with 10 teams. As a result, all South American teams automatically qualify for the tournament, and guest nations are usually called from around the world to make up the numbers.
For the 1993 tournament, CONMEBOL decided to add a rotating cast of guest nations to the core of 10 teams. This allowed for an added knockout round, two extra games, higher viewing figures, and more money.
While it has yet to happen, the inclusion of guest nations opens the possibility that a team outside of South America could win the continent's premier sports tournament. Historically, the most likely to upset the apple cart has been Mexico, who have reached the final twice. The USMNT have done pretty well themselves, reaching the semifinals in 1995 and 2016.
Yes, Messi will be in action. Despite completing his football bucket list in 2022 by winning the World Cup in Qatar a year after winning Copa America, the Inter Miami star has committed to playing in his seventh this year.
Not that he needs any more accolades, but when Messi steps foot in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta for Argentina's first group game on June 20, he will break the record for the leading number of appearances in the tournament. The match will be his 35th, surpassing the total set by Chile goalkeeper Sergio Livingstone. If he scores five while he is there, he'll also break the goalscoring record of 17, jointly held by his compatriots Norberto Mendez and Brazils Zizinho. Both records have stood since 1953.
Brazil is without Neymar, so Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr will take the mantle as the team's attacking leader. But do not fear: Alisson, Gabriel Martinelli, and Bruno Guimaraes will be among those to represent the Premier League for the five-time World Cup winners.
Liverpool duo Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez should star for Colombia and Uruguay and Moises Caicedo will headline for Ecuador.
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Messi is among several stars based in the United States who will feature at Copa America this summer, though some squads are yet to be announced at the time of writing.
Orlando City stalwart Pedro Gallese is expected to star for Peru in goal, and 2023 MLS All-Star midfielder Jose Martinez will likely perform his role in the midfield engine room for Venezuela as he does for the Philadelphia Union.
While Luis Suarez, Messis Miami's team-mate, was not named in the squad for Uruguay's 4-0 pre-tournament thrashing of Mexico, Cristian Olivera (LAFC) and Orlando City pair Cesar Araujo and Facundo Torres are expected to fly the MLS flag for Uruguay at the tournament.
With all those MLS players being called up for international duty this summer, surely MLS Commissioner Don Garber will pause league play, right?
Right?
We can't afford (to shut the league down for Copa America), Garber stated in his league address on the eve of the 2023 MLS Cup final. If we have to shut the league down (and) lose games, it impacts our players, it impacts our partners, it impacts our fans, it impacts everything that MLS has to deliver for all of our stakeholders. That being said, we've got to manage through that process, be clever and creative, and figure out how to reconfigure the schedule with all these different events to make it work.
Nothing says serving your fans like forcing teams to field sides without their best players. For example, Miami will play the Columbus Crew, the MLS Cup holders, on July 20, one day before Copa America kicks off. For that game, Miami will be without Messi.
Almost every South American superstar has won Copa America, except for two of the greatest ever: Maradona and Pele.
Maradona appeared in three Copa Americas (1979, 1987, and 1989) but never got over the line. His best performance came in 1987 on home soil, where he scored three goals in four matches, including a brace in the second group game against Ecuador. That was only enough to get to the semifinal stage, losing 1-0 against eventual winners Uruguay.
Pele gave himself even less chance, appearing in just one Copa America in 1958. As a 19-year-old, he finished as top scorer with eight goals and won the best player award, but Brazil finished second to Argentina in a seven-team round-robin. Imagine if he'd have played as many as Messi.
Let's not go there.
Fox Sports holds the English-language rights in the United States and will broadcast every game from the tournament on its Fox, FS1 and FS2 channels.
The USMNTs opening group games against Bolivia and Panama will be broadcast on Fox at 6 pm ET, while their third group fixture against Uruguay will be on FS1. Every Brazil and Argentina game is on FS1, while Mexicos group ties will be split between Fox and FS1.
The UK broadcaster is yet to be confirmed, but BBC held the rights in 2021.
Argentina are on an international tournament winning streak and they are favorites to win again this summer in the United States. Despite being without Neymar, Brazil is Argentina's most obvious competitor, and there will be little surprise if they add to their nine Copa America trophies this year.
Uruguay is slightly behind the elite duo but has the talent to go all the way. Outside of those three, Colombia is the pick of the dark horses. The United States has quality and could reach the semifinals if a favorable knockout route presents itself, but the final might be a game too far for Gregg Berhalters young squad.
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This summer on The Athletic: Tournaments, transfers and tours
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
US Men’s national team, Mexico Men’s national team, Canada, Brazil, Jamaica, Argentina, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, Soccer, Copa America
A beginner’s guide to Copa America 2024: Groups, format, location and dates
https://arab.news/vj4ht
A beginner’s guide to Copa America 2024: Groups, format, location and dates
- While Luis Suarez, Messis Miami's team-mate, was not named in the squad for Uruguay's 4-0 pre-tournament thrashing of Mexico
- Despite being without Neymar, Brazil is Argentina's most obvious competitor
Ronaldo vs. Mbappe: Clash of generations at Euro 2024 has just been given some extra spice
- Ronaldo heads into Friday’s game having failed to score in eight straight matches at major tournaments
- Mbappe scored a hat trick in the World Cup final and has been logging Ronaldo-esque scoring numbers in the first part of his career
HAMBURG: Cristiano Ronaldo vs. Kylian Mbappe.
A clash of soccer icons. A clash of generations.
They’ll go head to head when Portugal play France in the Euro 2024 quarterfinals on Friday, and this heavyweight meeting might have got just that little bit bigger.
“It is, without doubt, my last European Championship,” the 39-year-old Ronaldo said after his tearful, emotionally charged performance in Portugal’s penalty-shootout victory over Slovenia in the last 16.
That may have just confirmed what many were presuming anyway.
Still, there’s now a definitive specter of finality to Ronaldo’s long, headline-grabbing Euros adventure that could be brought to an end by Mbappe, the heir apparent to Ronaldo and Lionel Messi after their long-time dominance of the sport.
Mbappe grew up with pictures of Ronaldo on his bedroom wall.
A photo is inevitably doing the rounds on social media of what is apparently their first ever meeting, at Real Madrid’s training ground at Valdebebas in 2012 when a 13-year-old Mbappe stood beside Ronaldo after a visit to the Spanish club where his sporting hero was the star player.
In 2020, Mbappe posted on Twitter, now X, that Ronaldo was his “idol.”
And only a few months ago, Ronaldo reacted to Mbappe clinching a highly anticipated move to Madrid by writing on Instagram: “Excited to see you light up the Bernabeu.”
That Mbappe can now end Ronaldo’s European Championship career — who knows, it might even be his last ever major tournament — adds an intriguing subplot to a match that will be watched around the world.
“Let’s go, let’s go to war,” Ronaldo said of the match against France, whom he considers as the top contender at Euro 2024 along with Spain.
He said he was driven to tears against Slovenia not at the prospect of elimination but because his main motivation these days is “making people happy” and he had a penalty saved in extra time.
“I’m moved by all that football means — by the enthusiasm I have for the game, the enthusiasm for seeing my supporters, my family, the affection people have for me.
“It’s not about leaving the world of football. What else is there for me to do or win?”
Ronaldo heads into Friday’s game having failed to score in eight straight matches at major tournaments — Portugal’s last four at the 2022 World Cup and its four games at Euro 2024 — and with growing concerns about whether he deserves what appears to be a guaranteed spot in the team under Roberto Martinez.
Things haven’t been straightforward for Mbappe, either, at Euro 2024.
He sustained a broken nose in France’s group opener against Austria and has since been wearing a vision-limiting protective facemask during games. Mbappe has scored one goal and that was from the penalty spot against Poland — it’s the only goal scored by a France player at these Euros.
“He will have to get used to it,” France coach Didier Deschamps said of Mbappé and his mask, “because, to protect (his nose), he will have to wear it for a few weeks — or even a few months.”
Few would have predicted the top scorer at the last World Cup (Mbappe) and the record scorer in men’s international soccer (Ronaldo) to have just one goal between them heading into the quarterfinals.
But no one will be surprised if they come alive in Hamburg, with the pressure on and the occasion so big.
Mbappe, remember, scored a hat trick in the World Cup final and has been logging Ronaldo-esque scoring numbers in the first part of his career. He’s already on 48 goals for France at the age of 25, and is also on 48 goals in the Champions League from 73 appearances.
He is chasing down Ronaldo’s scoring records at both international (130) and Champions League (140) level and will likely only succeed by showing the same undimmed passion and desire as the player he used to copy as a kid.
As their countries’ respective captains, they’ll shake hands and embrace before kickoff. You can bet they’ll do the same after the match.
By that time, one of them will be on his way home.
For Mbappe, there will surely be more European Championships down the road.
For Ronaldo, this could be the end of the road.
Confident Kroos says Germany-Spain clash ‘won’t be my last game’
- “I don’t think tomorrow will be my last game. I think we’ll see each other again — and I look forward to it,” Kroos said
- “If I didn’t see the chance of achieving it with the team, I wouldn’t have done it“
HERZOGENAURACH, Germany: Retiring Germany veteran Toni Kroos said he was confident Friday’s blockbuster Euro 2024 quarter-final against Spain would not be the last game of his career.
Kroos announced in May he would hang up his boots after the Euros on home soil, meaning this week’s match in Stuttgart could be his final game.
Real Madrid teammate Joselu said this week he wanted to “send Kroos into retirement” but the 34-year-old midfielder had his sights set on the July 14 Euros final in Berlin.
“We will still be in the tournament for a while,” Kroos told reporters on Wednesday at Germany’s base camp in the Bavarian village of Herzogenaurach.
“I don’t think tomorrow will be my last game. I think we’ll see each other again — and I look forward to it,” he added.
The 2014 World Cup winner stepped down from the national team in 2021 but agreed to return in March.
“The idea of returning was tied to the goal of winning the Euros,” Kroos said.
“If I didn’t see the chance of achieving it with the team, I wouldn’t have done it.”
Kroos said he “did not fear” life after football, saying “this day will come for every player.”
“Thank god I could make the decision myself, rather than anyone pushing me or making me feel that it might be better to do it earlier.
“I am aware that whatever comes along, or what hobbies I might try and take up, there will never be anything I am as good at as playing football.”
The six-time Champions League winner made his debut for Bayern Munich in 2007, the same year 16-year-old Spain winger Lamine Yamal was born.
“That doesn’t make me feel much younger,” Kroos said, calling Yamal “the best or at least the most dangerous player” for club side Barcelona this season.
Murray teams up with Raducanu in Wimbledon British dream team
- The pair were Wednesday granted a wild card just a day after Murray, 37, pulled out of the singles
- The two-time Wimbledon singles champion will also play men’s doubles with his brother Jamie at the All England Club
LONDON: Andy Murray is teaming up with Emma Raducanu at Wimbledon in an eye-catching all-British mixed doubles pairing as part of his emotional farewell to the tournament.
The pair were Wednesday granted a wild card just a day after Murray, 37, pulled out of the singles due to his failure to regain full fitness following a back operation.
The two-time Wimbledon singles champion will also play men’s doubles with his brother Jamie at the All England Club, launching their campaign on Center Court on Thursday.
The mixed doubles event starts the following day.
Murray played mixed doubles with Serena Williams in 2019, making it to the third round, but it will be a Grand Slam debut in doubles for Raducanu.
The Scot, who has been ravaged by injuries in recent years, was asked after practice on Wednesday how the new doubles pairing had come about.
“Yesterday I was chatting to my team, they were discussing mixed and then last night I messaged her coach and just said, ‘Look, do you think this is something that maybe she’d be up for doing?’” he said.
Raducanu was quick to accept the proposal from the former world number one.
“Thankfully I got quite a quick reply,” said Murray. “It was quite late yesterday evening when I sent the message, it would have been after nine, so I was a bit worried she might be in bed, but I got a quick reply. She said, ‘Yeah, let’s do it’.”
Speaking earlier this week, Raducanu, the 2021 US Open champion, said teaming up with Murray at Wimbledon was “a childhood dream.”
Murray, now ranked 113th in the world, said despite his new partner’s inexperience, she would be well-suited to the format.
“She’s obviously unbelievably competitive and likes playing in the big stadiums and stuff with crowds so I expect she’ll deal with that really well,” he said.
He added: “She’s a brilliant returner and great ball striker so I’d imagine she’ll deal with returning guys’ serves well. And, when she’s getting into exchanges at the back of the court, she’ll be really good.”
The British pair face a tough opening contest against Marcelo Arevalo and Zhang Shuai.
El Salvador’s Arevalo last month won the men’s doubles title for the second time at the French Open while China’s Zhang is also a two-time Grand Slam doubles champion.
Raducanu eased into the third round of the Wimbledon singles with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Elize Mertens on Wednesday.
Turkiye summons German ambassador to protest criticism of Demiral’s goal celebration at Euro 2024
- Türkiye summoned the German ambassador on Wednesday to protest German interior minister Nancy Faeser’s condemnation of Demiral’s goal celebration
- Faeser urged UEFA to punish the player for making the gesture
LEIPZIG, Germany: A controversial gesture made by Türkiye player Merih Demiral at soccer’s European Championship has ignited a diplomatic brouhaha between the country and host nation Germany.
Türkiye summoned the German ambassador on Wednesday to protest German interior minister Nancy Faeser’s condemnation of Demiral’s goal celebration the night before, when the player displayed a hand sign associated with an ultra-nationalist group.
Demiral scored both goals Tuesday in a 2-1 win over Austria to earn Türkiye’s place in the quarterfinals.
After scoring the second goal he made a sign with each hand that is used by Turkish nationalists and associated with the Turkish ultra-nationalist organization Ulku Ocaklari, which is more widely known as the Gray Wolves.
Faeser urged UEFA to punish the player for making the gesture.
“The symbols of Turkish right-wing extremists have no place in our stadiums. Using the soccer European Championship as a platform for racism is completely unacceptable,” Faeser said on X.
Federal minister Cem Özdemir, a German politician of Turkish descent, said Demiral’s gesture is “extreme right” and “stands for terror, fascism.”
UEFA said it was investigating Demiral’s “alleged inappropriate behavior.” The soccer body did not outline when the case might conclude. Türkiye’s next game is against the Netherlands in Berlin on Saturday.
The spokesman for Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s party, Omer Celik, said Faeser’s comments and UEFA’s investigation are “unacceptable.”
“It would be more appropriate for those looking for racism and fascism to focus on the recent election results in different European countries,” Celik wrote on X.
Türkiye’s Foreign Ministry also condemned the investigation as a politically motivated reaction “to the use of a historical and cultural symbol” during the goal celebration.
A ministry statement said the gesture is not banned in Germany and noted that the German authority which safeguards the constitution had ruled in September 2023 that not everyone making the Gray Wolf sign could be classified as a far-right extremist.
“We consider that the reactions shown by the German authorities toward Mr. Demiral themselves contain xenophobia,” the ministry said.
After Tuesday’s game, Demiral said his gesture was an innocent expression of his national pride and that there was “no hidden message or anything of the sort.”
The player said he had the celebration in mind before scoring.
“It has to do with this Turkish identity, because I’m very proud to be a Turk. And I felt that to the fullest after the second goal. So that’s how I ended up doing that gesture. I’m very happy that I did that,” Demiral said. “I saw people in the stadium who were doing that sign. So that reminded me that I also had that in mind.”
Later, he was asked again about the gesture.
“How can I explain this?” he replied. “Of course we’re all Turkish. We’re all Turks in Turkiye. We’re very proud. I’m very proud as a person to be a Turk. So that’s what I did. That was the meaning of the gesture. It’s quite normal.”
Demiral said he hoped he’d get “more opportunities to do the same gesture again.”
Demiral was previously one of 16 Turkiye players reprimanded in 2019 for making military-style salutes at games at a time when the country was conducting a military offensive in Syria.
The Gray Wolves group was founded as the youth wing of Türkiye’s far-right Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, which is currently in an alliance with Erdogan’s ruling party, the Justice and Development Party.
In the decades following its founding in the 1960s, the group was accused of involvement in politically motivated violence, mostly against leftist groups.
MHP leader Devlet Bahceli on Wednesday condemned UEFA’s investigation into Demiral’s gesture as “biased and wrong.”
“The Gray Wolf sign made by our son, Merih, after netting the ball is the Turkish nation’s message to the world,” Bahceli wrote on X. The nationalist leader urged calm, saying the Turkish team’s “struggle on the field should not go to waste.”
Germany’s federal domestic agency monitors the Gray Wolves group’s activities. Authorities estimate it has around 12,100 members in the country.
The group has been banned in France, while Austria has banned the use of the Gray Wolf salute.
UFC’s first Emirati fighter set to return at Abu Dhabi fight night
- Mohammad Yahya will take on Brazilian Kaue Fernandes in a lightweight contest on Aug. 3 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi
- UFC fight night headlined by the bantamweight clash of American Cory Sandhagen and Russian Umar Nurmagomedov
ABU DHABI: Mohammad Yahya, the first Emirati to compete in the UFC, will make his return to take on Brazilian Kaue Fernandes for a lightweight battle on Aug. 3 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.
Yahya made history last year when he signed with the world’s largest mixed martial arts organization and debuted in the UAE capital in October at UFC 294. The 30-year-old will now return to fight in front of his home fans for the event headlined by a match in the bantamweight division, as American Cory Sandhagen takes on undefeated Russian Umar Nurmagomedov.
Yahya holds an overall record of 12-4 and has extensive experience fighting in the region — particularly with UAE Warriors. Twelve of his sixteen professional fights have taken place in the UAE and he can expect another strong backing from his home crowd. He will be looking to earn his first win in the UFC in arguably the organization’s most competitive division.
Brazil’s Fernandes will also be making his second UFC appearance this August. The 29-year-old holds an 8-2 record, and like Yahya will be looking for his first win inside the Octagon.
No. 2-ranked Sandhagen has fought on Yas Island twice — picking up bonuses on both occasions — firstly a performance of the night in defeating Marlon Moraes in 2020, followed up with a fight of the night for his battle with Petr Yan for the interim bantamweight title a year later.
Nurmagomedov (17-0), currently ranked No. 10 in the division, made his UFC debut in Abu Dhabi, securing a performance of the night bonus in stopping Sergey Morozov. He has gone on to win four further fights and is considered one of the rising stars in the 135-pound class.
