In soccer, the global governing body is called FIFA. FIFA divides the world into 6 regional Confederations (see map below). These Confederations each hold their own tournament. You can think of the World Cup as being like NCAA March Madness. The World Cup features the best teams from all of the Confederations, and March Madness has the best teams from every NCAA Conference. The regional tournaments, like Copa America, are like the conference tournaments. 

South America’s FIFA confederation is called CONMEBOL. It’s the second strongest region in the world, so their regional championship is a big deal.

The tournament is structured similarly to the World Cup, just with 16 teams instead of the World Cup’s (historical) 32. There will be 4 groups, each with 4 teams. All teams in each group will play each other in a round robin format, and the 2 teams in each group that earn the most points will advance to the single-elimination knockout rounds. Teams earn 3 points for a win, 1 for a tie, and 0 for a loss.

All 10 CONMEBOL nations will play, along with the 6 top teams from CONCACAF. You can see all 16 teams in their 4-team groups at our Copa America HQ. Typically, the tournament is for South American teams along with 2 guest nations – so the expanded 16-team edition is a big deal. 

This generation of USA players want to change the course of soccer in America and establish the USA as a global force to be reckoned with. Hosting the 2026 World Cup provides an opportunity to do that. If we make a deep run, it could create a whole new generation of soccer players and fans in this country.

Hosting that World Cup will be a blessing and a curse though. We’ll be automatically qualified and get a home field advantage. But…we won’t play any truly competitive games in the buildup to the 2026 World Cup, and we need competitive games to keep improving and be sharp as a team. This is particularly important because we are still so young and need experience.

Copa America is our last set of high-level competitive games before the World Cup. The USMNT need to make a run in Copa America and build confidence, so that when the World Cup comes around we’re ready to change the narrative on soccer in America. 

Absolutely. It would take a run of good form and probably a little luck, but we can do it. Vegas gives us about an 8% chance to win it all. Our talent has improved over the past two decades, and we now have stars who play for some of the biggest clubs in the world. In a recent “friendly” (a game that’s played outside a competitive tournament) our starting 11 all played in one of Europe’s Top 5 leagues – a first in our history.  

We are undoubtedly the strongest team in CONCACAF right now, and it’s time to test ourselves against the best from South America. Team captain Tyler Adams is on record saying that anything short of the Semis will be a disappointment. We agree.

The Copa America is one of the oldest global soccer competitions, tracing its roots to a 4-nation tournament hosted by Argentina in 1916. In the early days, the tournament was held nearly every year, with Argentina and Uruguay dominating. Those nations share the lead with 15 titles each, followed by Brazil with 9. No other nation has won more than 2, and no guest nation (like the USA this year) has ever won. 

Since the tournament rebranded as Copa America and adopted its current format in 1975, Brazil leads with 5 titles, followed by Uruguay with 4, then Argentina and Chile with 2.