This summer’s Concacaf Gold Cup will be a sprawling, coast-to-coast event played at 14 U.S. stadiums and one in Canada, the regional governing body announced. The July 16 final was already set for SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. No other specific match assignments were unveiled Monday, but the semifinals are expected to be in the western U.S.
The 15 host venues are:
Charlotte: Bank of America Stadium
Chicago: Soldier Field
Cincinnati: TQL Stadium
Dallas/Arlington, Texas: AT&T Stadium
Houston: NRG Stadium and Shell Energy Stadium
Las Vegas: Allegiant Stadium
Los Angeles/Inglewood, Calif.: SoFi Stadium
Miami/Ft. Lauderdale: DRV PNK Stadium
New York/Harrison, N.J.: Red Bull Arena
Phoenix/Glendale, Ariz.: State Farm Stadium
San Diego: Snapdragon Stadium
San Francisco Bay Area/Santa Clara, Calif.: Levi’s Stadium
St. Louis: CityPark Stadium
Toronto: BMO Field
Additional details and scheduling specifics are expected following Friday afternoon’s tournament draw. The 17th Gold Cup will begin with a qualifying tournament featuring three, four-team knockout paths that will produce the final three entrants in the 16-team draw. Those qualifiers will be played June 16–20. Concacaf staged the 2021 preliminary rounds at Inter Miami’s DRV PNK Stadium and may return thanks to its relative proximity to the Central American and Caribbean participants.
The U.S., the reigning champ, will be seeded along with Mexico, Costa Rica and Canada. They’ll be joined in Friday’s draw by Panama, Haiti, Jamaica, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Cuba, Nicaragua, placeholders for the three qualifying survivors; and then Qatar, which will compete as an invitee for the second consecutive tournament. Group-stage play will kick off June 24. The quarterfinals are scheduled for July 8–9 and the semis are July 12.
FC Cinncinnati’s TQL Stadium, St. Louis City’s CityPark Stadium, San Diego State’s Snapdragon Stadium and SoFi will be first-time Gold Cup hosts.
The U.S., Mexico, Canada and Panama will enter the Gold Cup on the heels of the Nations League final four, which is being played June 15–18 in Las Vegas. Concacaf originally intended to award the Nations League title in March but remains slightly behind thanks to rippling delays caused by the pandemic. The Nations League was designed to offer more competitive opportunities to Concacaf’s smaller teams while doubling as qualifying for the Gold Cup (and next year’s Copa América).
The Americans will be looking to repeat as regional champions for the second time (after 2005 and ’07) and are seeking their eighth title overall.
