Copa América Centenario

The Copa América Centenario, referred to in English as the 2016 Centennial Copa America, is a scheduled international men's association football tournament due to be held in the United States in 2016. The competition is a celebration of the centenary of CONMEBOL and Copa América, and is to be the first Copa América hosted outside of South America.

The tournament, which will be the 45th edition of Copa América since its inception in 1916, will be held as part of an agreement between CONMEBOL (the South American football confederation) and CONCACAF (the football confederation for North and Central America and the Caribbean) as a special edition between the usual four-year cycle, and will feature an expanded field of 16 teams (increase from the usual 12), with ten teams from CONMEBOL and six teams from CONCACAF.

Planning

In February 2012, Alfredo Hawit, then Acting President of CONCACAF, announced that the competition would be expected to take place in 2016, as a celebration of CONMEBOL's centenary. CONMEBOL President Nicolás Leoz said "Hopefully we can organize a big event, because we have 100 years and we want to celebrate big."

Copa América

The Copa América (Spanish and Portuguese for "America Cup"), formerly known as the South American Football Championship (Campeonato Sud Americano de Football in Spanish), is an international football competition contested between the men's national football teams of CONMEBOL, determining the continental champion of South America. It is the oldest international continental football competition.

The current tournament format, established in 1993, involves twelve teams competing at venues in a host nation over a period of one month. As the confederation has only ten members, national teams from other FIFA confederations are invited to fill two other spaces, creating a 12-member group stage with three groups of four teams. From 1993 through 2015, five teams from CONCACAF and one team from AFC have participated. The nine appearances by Mexico (CONCACAF) are the most appearances for a non-CONMEBOL teams, while their two runner-up finishes are the highest for an invitee.

In 44 tournaments since 1916, eight of the ten CONMEBOL national teams have won the title, with only Ecuador and Venezuela yet to win. Uruguay has the most championships, with 15, while the current (2015) champion is Chile.

Chile

Coordinates: 30°S 71°W / 30°S 71°W / -30; -71

Chile (/ˈtʃɪli/;Spanish: [ˈtʃile]), officially the Republic of Chile (Spanish:  República de Chile ), is a South American country occupying a long, narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far south. Chilean territory includes the Pacific islands of Juan Fernández, Salas y Gómez, Desventuradas, and Easter Island in Oceania. Chile also claims about 1,250,000 square kilometres (480,000 sq mi) of Antarctica, although all claims are suspended under the Antarctic Treaty.

The arid Atacama Desert in northern Chile contains great mineral wealth, principally copper. The relatively small central area dominates in terms of population and agricultural resources, and is the cultural and political center from which Chile expanded in the late 19th century when it incorporated its northern and southern regions. Southern Chile is rich in forests and grazing lands, and features a string of volcanoes and lakes. The southern coast is a labyrinth of fjords, inlets, canals, twisting peninsulas, and islands.

COPA

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