By Andrew Warshaw
October 26 – An embarrassing difference of opinion has broken out between two of FIFA’s six Confederations after the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) announced it was staging a special centenary edition of its Copa América in the United States.
The announcement of the 16-team tournament in 2016 was flashed around the world but has now been deemed premature by Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) bosses.
The tournament, to be called the Centenary Copa América, is to feature CONMEBOL’s 10 member nations plus the United States and Mexico and four other teams from CONCACAF selected according to ranking in that region’s Gold Cup.
It will be the first time the event is played outside South America and will go head-to-head with the 2016 UEFA European Championship in France, which is being expanded to 24 teams for the first time.
But it now appears that CONMEBOL jumped the gun and that discussions are still ongoing.
“Even though playing the 2016 Copa América in the CONCACAF region with our teams and those from CONMEBOL would be a wonderful experience for all fans, we are still in the midst of talks and negotiations between all parties involved in this decision,” said Enrique Sanz, CONCACAF’s general secretary (pictured below).
“This is an idea we are hoping to materialise, but we are still evaluating and discussing before it becomes official.
“But the intention is definitely there.”
US Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati was equally non-plussed about the South Americans seemingly stealing CONCACAF’s thunder.
“While the idea of a centennial tournament with some of the best teams in the hemisphere is certainly intriguing, it is not something we have agreed to host or participate in at this time,” Gulati said.
“As CONCACAF stated, there are still a number of discussions that need to take place with CONMEBOL.
“US Soccer would also need to be involved in discussions about hosting the tournament.
“We’re looking forward to those discussions in the near future.”
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