The 2028 Copa America will be played in the United States and will not return to South America.

The Copa América has (or had) a rotation of venues established since 1987: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Uruguay, Bolivia, Paraguay, Colombia, Peru, and Venezuela. The 2024 edition was assigned to the Ecuadorian Federation, but Alejandro Domínguez’s Conmebol forgot the established order, stating that they were only “candidates,” and months later announced that the tournament would be organized in the United States in partnership with Concacaf.

What will happen with the 2028 Copa America? Will it be awarded to Ecuador as compensation? Can other South American countries apply? Well, in true Conmebol style, nothing is clear, unlike UEFA, which has known since March 2023 that the 2028 Euros will be held in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Anyway, signs of what Conmebol wants to do are already beginning to emerge, and it will leave many people speechless.

A Copa América in the United States again handpicked?

A few days ago, the Chilean journalist Juan Cristóbal Guarello, one of the most recognized in that country, provided information on his YouTube program “La hora de King Kong” about the plans that Conmebol under Alejandro Domínguez has for the future of the Copa América.

“You know that there is a Copa America in 2028. We have to have a Copa America in 2028. Forget about the ‘Old School’ Copa America! Like the one that was held in Chile. It’s over! That Copa America is over!… From now on, all Copa Americas will have 16 teams. Including those from Concacaf. Because that’s where they found the business,” said Guarello.

With the exception of 2021 due to COVID, since 1993 the Copa America has been contested by the 10 countries of Conmebol plus two invited teams (Japan and Qatar in 2019).

The journalist from Canal 13 also added that “Alejandro Domínguez (president of Conmebol) found ‘the business’. The next Copa America will be played in the United States. The same Copa America that they are watching now, we will have it in 2028. And do not be surprised if the one in 2032 is also in the United States, or it could be in Mexico.” Guarello concluded by saying that “the business is in the television rights for Latinos in the United States.”

The same goes for the Gold Cup

The Concacaf national teams have their own national team tournament, called the Gold Cup.

Since 1991, the United States has always been the host of the tournament, sometimes in a shared manner and mostly exclusively. The last time the tournament final was played in another country was in 2003, when it took place in Mexico City. Is that the future that awaits the Copa America?