PHILADELPHIA, PA -The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) today announced that Philadelphia will be one of 13 metropolitan areas to welcome the 2017 edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup next July. Lincoln Financial Field will host a Knockout Round game date, with schedule and further details to be announced at a later date.
For the upcoming edition of the Gold Cup, CONCACAF has taken steps to expand the tournament to emerging soccer markets, allowing more fans across the country to take part in the continental championship first-hand. The 2017 Gold Cup will feature four first-time hosts. Returning in 2017 are nine previous Gold Cup host venues, including Lincoln Financial Field.
Since 2003, the home of the Philadelphia Eagles has played host to 23 national and international soccer matches, including the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup Final match between Mexico and Jamaica, and most recently three 2016 Copa America Centenario matches last June (Uruguay vs. Venezuela, USA vs. Paraguay, Chile vs. Panama).
Complete groups and schedule, including selection of dates and assignment of matches for the knockout round and the awarding of the Final, will be announced at a later date.
Taking place every two years, the CONCACAF Gold Cup is the official national team championship of the region, which includes North and Central America and the Caribbean. Drawing large crowds and millions of television viewers across the region, the Gold Cup is a celebration of soccer, sportsmanship, and culture. The winner of the 2017 tournament will win continental bragging rights and an assured spot in the CONCACAF Cup play-in game to qualify for the 2021 FIFA Confederations Cup, if needed.
To date, seven of the twelve national teams scheduled to participate have qualified for next year's tournament: Canada, Curacao, French Guiana, Jamaica, Martinique, Mexico, and the United States, in alphabetical order, will compete for the Confederation crown in July.
Canada, Mexico and the United States automatically qualify for the Gold Cup in representation of North America. The four Caribbean nations already qualified did so by winning their groups in the recently completed semifinal stage of the Scotiabank CFU Caribbean Cup. The top four finishers from January's UNCAF Central American Cup, to be played in Panama, will also qualify.
Three additional Caribbean nations, Haiti, Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago, have qualified for an additional series of matches in January, the winner of which will face-off next year in a two-leg playoff against the fifth-place team from the UNCAF Central American Cup to determine the final participant in the 2017 Gold Cup. For more information or for exclusive presale opportunities, fans should visit http://www.GoldCup.org.
