Just when you thought we were all out of football along comes the international tournament the Copa America to keep us all occupied for more than 3 weeks.
Starting on June 11th the tournament will kick off with the opening match which sees the host nation Chile take on Ecuador in Santiago.
This will be the 44th edition of the tournament that will be celebrating it’s 99 year anniversary during the event.
The previous tournament held in Argentina in 2011 was won by the Luis Suarez inspired Uruguayans who defeated Paraguay 3-0 in the final.
That win moved Uruguay clear as the most successful team in Copa America history with 15 cup wins, one ahead of Argentina with 14, and 7 ahead of Brazil with 8 wins. The only other teams to lift the trophy remain Paraguay and Peru with 2 wins each, and Columbia and Boliva with one apiece.
The Copa America always features the 10 member countries of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) plus 2 ‘guest’ spots from one of the other FIFA Confederations. This time the 2 guest spots have gone to the countries of Mexico and Jamaica, with the latter entering the competition for the very first time.
The final of the tournament is on June 4th with the winners also qualifying for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup.
For more information on the tournament please see the website here.