2019 Copa America Expanded

[HajdukSplit]

The 2019 Copa America which is to be hosted by Brazil will be expanded to 16 teams, CONMEBOL announced

http://www.espnfc.com/copa-america/...ve-16-teams-for-2019-edition-hosted-by-brazil

This tournament is not to be confused with a proposed 2020 Copa America which again will be hosted by the US. The big rumor is this 2019 Copa America will be the last odd-year Copa and from 2020 onwards they will go head-to-head with the Euros every four years

Anyway the 10 CONMEBOL nations will qualify automatically as always, the remaining six teams will be invitees. Mexico is practically a guaranteed invite while I'm sure the US will as well however the US hasn't competed in one since 2007 and once again due to the Gold Cup in 2019 both teams would probably send weaker sides as well. Costa Rica, in US' "absence", has been invited since

Very rarely are the invitees from outside of the Americas; Japan was invited in 2011 and 2015 but declined both times (2011 due to the earthquake and 2015 due to footballing reasons). China were invited in 2015 as well but they declined due to World Cup qualifying. The only Euro country in recent years to be invited was Spain in 2011 but they had to decline due to scheduling. However, the Brazilian press believe CONMEBOL will invited the "Latin European" teams (Spain, Portugal, France, Italy) and Australia is also in the hat for an invite, I would assume simply due to commercial appeal China will be invited as well. Regardless, I doubt the Euro teams accept the invite and if they do it will be very weak squads

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[Luigi Habs]

A new joke in intl football competitions.

 

[Corto]

Yeah, I can't imagine Euro teams treating this thing seriously.

 

[Moncherry]

In the future, international tournaments will consist of every member of FIFA and hosted across the seven continents.

 

[Theokritos]

It's beyond me why CONMEBOL can't get that tournament right.

 

[DoyleG]

The tourney was fine as it was.

Guess someone decided to **** it up.

 

[Disclose]

get rid of the gold cup and change the name if they wanna do this like that.
north american teams dont send their A squads because of the gold cup and inviting teams from other continents is just so weird.

 

[HajdukSplit]

ESPN Deportes reports that the six teams invited are: Mexico, USA, Spain, Portugal, Japan and China. I'm sure most will decline barring Mexico

 

[Elliman]

Not feeling the China invite although I get it. Money talks. Japan, I don't mind they play (or used to?) attractive football. They even have history in the tournament with an appearance in the late 90's. Would have preferred Italy and or France. As the Gold Cup allows non-FIFA members to play I thought maybe his would have been nice to see some of the nations in Spain get a tournament like Catalonia, Basque and Galicia. Yes I know that would mean Spain not playing for sure but I don't expect them to anyway. Would be fun though.


Possible fun groups

Group A: Chile, Mexico, Ecuador, China
Group B: Brazil, Spain, USA, Peru
Group C: Argentina, Uruguay, Portugal, Venezuela
Group D: Colombia, Japan, Paraguay, Bolivia

Fantasy group

A: Chile - Mexico - Bolivia - Peru
B: Brazil - USA - Ecuador - Basque
C: Argentina - Paraguay - Uruguay - Costa Rica
D: Colombia - Portugal - Catalonia - Venezuela

ESPN Deportes reports that the six teams invited are: Mexico, USA, Spain, Portugal, Japan and China. I'm sure most will decline barring Mexico

 

[HajdukSplit]

At the end of the day the tournament remains at 12 teams for the 2019 edition, the invited teams are Japan and Qatar. No Mexico for the first time since the 1991 edition of the tournament and the rumors of USA being involved were incorrect