Brazil Will Host 2019 Copa America: Latest Comments and Reaction

The Copa America tournament will return to Brazil in 2019.

CONMEBOL President Alejandro Dominguez announced the news Tuesday, via the organization’s official website (h/t Sports Illustrated).   

Brazil hosting is good news for the nation’s team because it won the tournament all four times it was on home soil, the last of which came in 1989.

Sports Illustrated explained that Brazil could have hosted the tournament in 2015 if it had followed the traditional format of rotating between South American nations in alphabetical order, but it did not because of “the country’s commitments for the World Cup and Olympics.” Brazil hosted the 2013 Confederations Cup and 2014 World Cup and is set to host the 2016 Olympic Games.

Instead, Chile hosted and won the 2015 version.

What’s more, the field will once again be 12 teams instead of the 16 that are competing in the Copa America Centenario. According to Sports Illustrated, the tournament combined the CONMEBOL and CONCACAF confederations for its 100th anniversary.

While 2019 is three years away, Brazil figures to be in a favorable position to add to its success as the tournament’s host country. It is seventh in the official FIFA rankings as of Tuesday, and three top-notch European teams ahead of Brazil in Belgium (No. 2), Germany (No. 4) and Spain (No. 6) will not participate in the tournament.

Brazil is also in second place and in position to advance (as of Tuesday) in Group B of the Copa America Centenario tables.