The Copa America Centenario Executive Committee announced on Wednesday the procedures for the 2016 Copa America Centenario official draw, which is set to take place on Sunday night in New York City. The draw, which will be televised live starting at 7:30 pm ET on FS2 and UDN, will determine the groups and full schedule for the historic tournament and will feature former soccer stars from around the hemisphere.
The draw will be completed with a double-blind system involving the use of eight pots. The first four pots are the team pots, and will contain groups of four nations each. The final four pots are the group pots, and will be used to randomly sort the nations into the four groups.
Pot 1 will contain the four previously announced seeded teams: United States, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. The four seeded teams have been drawn into pre-determined groups, with the US set to headline Group A, Brazil in Group B, Mexico in Group C and Argentina in Group D.
The remaining three pots will be sorted based on Confederation, with the eight remaining CONMEBOL nations grouped into Pots 2 and 4 and the four qualified CONCACAF countries placed into Pot 3. The two pots containing CONMEBOL nations were divided based on the December 2015 FIFA rankings, with the four higher-ranked teams placed into Pot 2 and the four lower-ranked teams placed into Pot 4.
The full breakdown of the four team pots is below:
- Pot 1 (Seeded nations): Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, United States
- Pot 2 (CONMEBOL – Higher ranked nations): Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Uruguay
- Pot 3 (CONCACAF – Qualified nations): Costa Rica, Haiti, Jamaica, Panama
- Pot 4 (CONMEBOL – Lower ranked nations): Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela
The four group pots will contain four positions each, one from each group, as follows:
- Pot 5: A1, B1, C1, D1
- Pot 6: A2, B2, C2, D2
- Pot 7: A3, B3, C3, D3
- Pot 8: A4, B4, C4, D4
Sunday’s draw will start with the pulling of the four seeded teams from Pot 1. As each team is drawn, the corresponding ball will be drawn from Pot 5, placing the four teams into the head position of their respective pre-determined groups.
The team pots will then be drawn in reverse order, starting with Pot 4 and finishing with Pot 2. The teams will be pulled from each pot, one by one, then a ball from the corresponding group pot will be drawn to place each team into their group. The teams in Pot 4 (lower-ranked CONMEBOL teams) will be drawn into groups using Pot 8 (group position 4), the teams in Pot 3 (qualified CONCACAF countries) will be placed into groups using Pot 7 (group position 3) and the night will conclude with the teams in Pot 2 (higher-ranked CONMEBOL teams) drawn into groups using Pot 6 (group position 2).
The full tournament calendar and schedule will be unveiled at the conclusion of the draw. The four seeded nations already know the dates and venues for their three group matches. The US will kick off the tournament at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California on June 3 before moving to Chicago for a match at Soldier Field on June 7 and concluding the group stage on June 11 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
Two teams from each of the four groups will advance to the knockout round. The final will be played at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on June 26.
