When is the Copa America 2024 group stage draw? Date, teams, pots and format explained
The Copa America returns to the U.S. for its 2024 edition and there is a little more than half a year until it gets underway.
The USMNT were one of the teams to confirm their place at the tournament during the most recent international break, leaving just two more of the 16 participants to be decided.
Before those remaining spots are filled, the draw for the tournament’s group stage will be made in Miami.
Here is everything you need to know.
When is the Copa America 2024 draw?
The draw for the 2024 Copa America group stage will be made on Thursday, December 7 at 7:30pm ET/4:30pm PT.
It will take place at the James L Knight Center in Miami, six months and 13 days before the tournament begins on Thursday, June 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
Which teams are in the draw?
As usual for Copa America, the 10 member nations of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) did not have to go through a qualification process for the tournament.
Those from the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF), however, have had to earn their spots.
Last week, USMNT, Jamaica, Mexico and Panama confirmed their places, meaning the line-up currently looks like this:
Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Paraguay Peru Uruguay Venezuela Jamaica Mexico Panama USMNT
Two more teams will join those 14 nations. More on those in a moment.
What are the Copa America 2024 draw pots?
As the final two places will be taken by the winners of a play-in round, the pots for the draw have been confirmed.
USMNT supporters will be glad to see they will avoid both Argentina and Brazil in the group stage, as they are alongside them both in Pot 1.
The pots were decided based on the FIFA rankings before the November international fixtures. The four highest-ranked nations were placed into Pot 1, the next four highest-ranked into Pot 2 and so on.
The two play-in winners will be placed in Pot 4, regardless of their FIFA ranking.
FIFA ranking in brackets
Pot 1: Argentina (1, and reigning world and Copa America champions), Brazil (3), USMNT (11), Mexico (12)
Pot 2: Uruguay (15), Colombia (17), Peru (26), Ecuador (36)
Pot 3: Chile (37), Panama (44), Venezuela (49), Paraguay (53)
Pot 4: Jamaica (55), Bolivia (85), Play-in 1 winner, Play-in 2 winner
Which teams are in the play-in round and when is it being played?
Canada face a nervous wait until March after they failed to qualify for the Copa America at the first attempt.
The four CONCACAF nations to have qualified already did so by winning their CONCACAF Nations League quarter-finals. The losers in those ties, including Canada, after being beaten on the away-goals rule by Jamaica, have dropped into the play-in series.
That ‘series’ will comprise of two one-off matches, with the winners taking the final two qualifying places at Copa America 2024. Those matches are:
Canada vs Trinidad and Tobago Costa Rica vs Honduras
Both games will be played on Saturday, March 23 at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas.
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What is the format of the 2024 Copa America?
The nations will be drawn into four four-team groups, and the teams in each group will play each other once.
The top two teams in those groups will advance to the quarter-finals, where each group winner will face a runner-up. The four winners of those games will advance to the semi-finals, and the winners of the two semi-finals will meet in the final at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on Sunday, July 14.
Ties are allowed in the group stage where the score after 90 minutes (plus stoppage time) will be final. In the knockout phase, matches drawn after 90 minutes will enter a 30-minute extra-time period. If the score remains tied after 30 minutes of extra time, a penalty shootout will decide the winning team.
Three of the last seven Copa America finals have been settled on penalties.
Could there be a ‘Group of Death’?
Yes — but it would require Canada to advance past Trinidad and Tobago next March.
Each of the four teams in Pot 1 will be desperate to avoid Marcelo Bielsa’s Uruguay (in Pot 2), who have beaten Brazil and Argentina in the two most recent international breaks. Colombia are another of the teams to avoid in Pot 2, having come third in two of the last three iterations of Copa America.
The teams in Pot 3 pose less of a threat, but can still be dangerous, particularly for the USMNT and Mexico. In Pot 4, Canada (if they qualify), will be the team to avoid. Despite their Nations League quarter-final defeat by Jamaica, they still possess star quality with the likes of Alphonso Davies and Jonathan David. Canada left the 2022 World Cup without a point but caused real problems for highly-ranked Belgium and eventual semi-finalists Morocco in Group F.
Based on FIFA world rankings — and on the premise that the higher-ranked team in the play-in ties progresses — the toughest group that could be drawn is:
Argentina (1), Uruguay (15), Chile (37), Canada (45).
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(Top photos: Getty Images)
