Football
Doug McIntyre, ESPN Staff Writer 8y

Jurgen Klinsmann hopes Copa America stays in U.S. permanently

CHICAGO -- United States coach Jurgen Klinsmann hopes the format of the Copa America Centenario won't be an aberration on the international calendar.

This summer's tournament, scheduled to mark the 100th anniversary of South America's championship, includes six teams from North and Central America and the Caribbean and is being hosted outside of the continent -- in the United States -- for the first time.

Sources told ESPN Deportes that CONMEBOL and CONCACAF, the two regional governing bodies, are considering a permanent move for the Copa America to the United States.

A source close to CONCACAF later told ESPN FC he had no knowledge of any talks about future Copa Americas being held in the U.S.

Klinsmann, also U.S. Soccer's technical director, said such a development would benefit the country's national team program and those of its regional rivals by regularly exposing them to top-notch teams like Argentina and Brazil outside of the quadrennial World Cup.

"That would be huge for our region to play every four years the Copa America," he said. "The format for us and, speaking on behalf of Mexico and Costa Rica, it would be huge for CONCACAF's top teams."

With only 10 members, CONMEBOL has since 1993 invited national teams from outside the continent to participate in the Copa America. Costa Rica, Mexico and the United States have all made multiple appearances.

Honduras appeared in 2001, and Jamaica participated last year in Chile. Japan -- the only team from outside the Americas -- was a guest in 1999.

Klinsmann -- who said last month that this year's Copa rivals the European Championship in terms of quality -- would like it to become a global staple.

"It would be huge to have that type of competition every four years for us to grow and compete with the top teams in South America," he said. "It would be absolutely fantastic."

ESPN FC's Jeff Carlisle contributed to this report.

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