Copa América group-stage draw happening Thursday in Miami

MIAMI — The 2024 Copa América group-stage draw will be taking place this Thursday at the James L. Knight Center in Miami. 

The event is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m., as 14 U.S. cities will play host to the 16-team tournament next summer, with the July 14 championship being played at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.

The quarterfinals will be held July 4 at NRG Stadium in Houston; July 5 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas; and July 6 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, and Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

The semifinals will be in New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium on July 9 and Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium the next day. The third-place game will be in Charlotte on July 13, on the eve of the final.

CONMEBOL and CONCACAF announced last month that the June 20 opening game will be at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, while South Florida’s Hard Rock Stadium landed the final.

The other sites revealed Monday: SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California; Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California; Exploria Stadium in Orlando, Florida; Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas; and two facilities in the Kansas City metro area: Arrowhead Stadium in Missouri and smaller Children’s Mercy Park on the Kansas side of the border.

Copa América is expanding in 2024, with six teams from North America joining the usual 10 nations from South America that compete for the continental championship. The format mirrors the Copa América Centenario in 2016, the only previous time the tournament was staged outside of South America.

For the 2024 edition, the CONMEBOL regulars will be joined by six CONCACAF qualifiers: the United States, Mexico, Jamaica and Panama plus the winner of March 23 playoff games between Costa Rica and Honduras, and between Canada and Trinidad and Tobago.

Two group-round games each will be played at MetLife Stadium (June 25 and 27); Hard Rock Stadium (June 23 and 29); Exploria Stadium (June 29 and July 1); Mercedes-Benz Stadium (the June 20 opener and June 27); AT&T Stadium (June 21 and 23); NRG Stadium (June 22 and 24); Q2 Stadium (June 20 and July 2); State Farm Stadium (June 28 and 30); Allegiant Stadium (June 26 and 28); SoFi Stadium (June 24 and 26) and Levi’s Stadium (June 22 and July 2).

Two groups games will also be played in the Kansas City area: June 25 at Children’s Mercy Park and July 1 at Arrowhead Stadium.