Copa America Centenario final will be played at MetLife Stadium

Photo credit: AFP.

The 82,000-seat stadium of football’s New York Giants and New York Jets will be the site of next year’s Copa America Centenario final, the US Soccer Federation announced Wednesday. MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey will host the championship game of the unique showdown between North and South American national teams on June 26.

The special edition of the South American championship, the first to be played beyond the continent, will include 10 South American sides plus six from North America in an event to pay tribute to a century of South American soccer with some of the world’s top talent on display. The event will be staged in US venues from June 3-26, 2016. The format of the Copa America Centenario schedule, including match dates for each venue, will be revealed Thursday, US Soccer said.

Other venues include: Foxborough, Massachusetts (Gillette Stadium), Chicago (Soldier Field), Houston (NRG Stadium), Pasadena (Rose Bowl), Orlando (Citrus Bowl Stadium), Philadelphia (Lincoln Financial Field), Phoenix (University of Phoenix Stadium), the San Francisco Bay Area (Levi’s Stadium) and Seattle (CenturyLink Field). Most venues will host at least three matches.

MetLife Stadium, which opened in 2010, has hosted US matches against five-time World Cup champion Brazil and Argentina. In 2012, the venue hosted a Brazil-Argentina match that drew 81,994 spectators. It also hosted the NFL’s Super Bowl in 2014.