“Super Bowl of Soccer” Coming to Philly!

…and the special events just keep coming! Following much-publicized news that Philadelphia would host the pope’s first United States visit in September and next year’s Democratic National Convention comes the word that the city will host the Gold Cup final, which is considered the biggest soccer event in North America and Central America.

The actual Gold Cup is seen in this image from the CONCACAF press event held to announce Philadelphia as the home of the final match.

The CONCACAF, which is the governing body for North/Central American soccer, announced yesterday that Lincoln Financial Field will host the event, which is the culmination of a bracket-style tournament to determine the best soccer team on the continent. The Gold Cup will be played in thirteen cities across the U.S., with one game taking place in Toronto, Canada. The quarterfinals will play out at MefLife Stadium, in East Rutherford, and M&T Bank Stadium, in Baltimore. The Georgia Dome, in Atlanta, will be where the semifinals take place. A match to determine the third-place finisher will be held at PPL Park, in Chester, Pennsylvania.

The Gold Cup is the equivalent of the World Cup as held for just North America, Central America, and the Caribbean.  The tourney is to decide who represents the continent in the FIFA Confederations Cup, an international tournament held every four years that is considered a strong preview to the World Cup. This will be the 13th Gold Cup. It will feature teams from U.S., Mexico, Canada, Cuba, Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti and either Honduras or French Guiana (which will be decided at the end of the month). The United States won the last Gold Cup, meaning that another win this time around will automatically send them to the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia. It’s expected that things will come down to the United States and Mexico, who have a fierce rivalry between them..