The two Copa America matches scheduled to be played next year at Mercedes-Benz Stadium are set after Thursday’s tournament group draws in Miami. Both of the matches in Atlanta are in the group stage.
Argentina, the World Cup champ, the world’s top-ranked team and Copa America’s defending champ, is scheduled to play either Canada or Trinidad & Tobago on June 20 in Atlanta. Lionel Messi, considered the world’s best player, is expected to play.
The U.S., No. 12 in FIFA’s world rankings, is scheduled to play Panama on June 27 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
This will be the 48th edition of the tournament. It will include 10 teams from South America and six from CONCACAF. It will be the second time the tournament has been held in the U.S. The last time was 2016.
Argentina, Mexico, U.S. and Brazil were slotted as the top teams into the four groups weeks ago. The rest of each group was drawn Thursday.
Group A will be composed of Argentina, which may feature Atlanta United player Thiago Almada; No. 35 Peru, which may feature Atlanta United player Luis Abram; No. 40 Chile; and either No. 48 Canada or No. 96 Trinidad & Tobago.
Group B will be composed of No. 14 Mexico, which twice has finished third in the tournament; No. 32 Ecuador; No. 49 Venezuela, which may feature Atlanta United player Ronald Hernandez and former player Josef Martinez; and either No. 52 Costa Rica or No. 76 Honduras.
Group C will be composed of the U.S., which has played once in Atlanta since 1977, No. 11 Uruguay, No. 41 Panama and No. 85 Bolivia. The other two U.S. group-stage matches are scheduled to be played June 23 in Arlington, Texas, against Bolivia and July 1 against 15-time champ Uruguay in Kansas City.
Group D will be composed of No. 5 Brazil, a nine-time Copa America champ; No. 15 Colombia; No. 53 Paraguay, which may feature former Atlanta United players Miguel Almiron and Hector Villalba; and No. 55 Jamaica.
The teams were seeded based upon FIFA rankings. They will face each other once in the group stage. The two teams that finish with the most points in the three-team group will advance to the quarterfinals, which are scheduled to be played in Houston, Las Vegas, Arlington and Glendale, Arizona. One semifinal scheduled to be played in East Rutherford, New Jersey on July 9 and the other in Charlotte, North Carolina, on July 10. The championship is scheduled to be played in Miami on July 14.
The two matches in Atlanta will be a run-up for the 2026 World Cup matches scheduled to played in Atlanta. FIFA has yet to announce which cities will host which level of matches.
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