Ten United States metro areas selected to host Copa America Centenario

U.S. Soccer on Thursday named San Francisco as one of 10 host cities for the prestigious event being held outside South America for the first time.

Levi’s Stadium will be the host facility for the Bay Area, and is expected to have at least 3 games. It’s the first time in the history of the event, since 1916, that the mythical Copa America will be played outside South America, with 16 teams from throughout the Americas and the Caribbean.

The national teams of The United States, Mexico and four other CONCACAF countries, will compete against Brazil, Argentina, Chile and the seven other South American nations in the special-edition tournament.

Houston Dynamo season ticket members will get access to an exclusive private sale for tickets to the tournament when they go on sale. Each venue will host multiple matches. More information on the ticket allocation process will be communicated in the coming weeks.

Event organisers chose the 10 cities from 24 candidates but did not reveal details about the opening match nor the final.

More Brazilians visit Orlando than from any other global country, with about 883,000 Brazilians coming to the City attractive in 2014, according to the National Travel and Tourism Office.

“These 10 cities and venues will provide a fantastic setting for fans across the world to attend Copa America Centenario and allow them to see the awesome passion for soccer in the United States”, U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati said in a statement.

After a few uncertainty around the event stemming from the recent Federation Internationale de Football Association scandal, the Copa America Centenario 2016 was given the green light.

Orlando will be the closest place that soccer fans will be able to take in the 2016 Copa America soccer tournament.

The final two teams from CONCACAF are being determined in a double-header playoff set to be disputed January 8 in Panama City. Trinidad & Tobago is facing Haiti, and Panama squares off against Cuba, with the winners qualifying for the Copa America Centenario.

Several officials from the federations overseeing the North and South American regions, CONCACAF and CONMEBOL, were implicated in the corruption investigation, and bribery allegations involving the broadcasting and marketing rights for the tournament were at the center of the investigation.