COPA INTERAMERICANA
Lionel Messi and Inter Miami could feature in Copa Interamericana revival
CONCACAF and CONMEBOL have reportedly reached an agreement to bring back a tournament pitting the Americas’ best teams against each other.
There could soon be a new trophy for World Cup-winning, Champions League-winning Lionel Messi to get his hands on. CONCACAF, soccer’s governing body in the North, Central America and the Caribbean, has reached an agreement with CONMEBOL, its South American counterpart, to bring back the Copa Interamericana, according to Argentine daily sports newspaper Diario Olé.
What was the Copa Interamericana?
During its original run between 1969 and 1998, the Copa Interamericana was intended to be an annual two-legged “Super Cup” contested by the winners of the CONCACAF Champions Cup and the Copa Libertadores. Things didn’t always work out that way, however, with some editions not held and others played as one-off matches, while a couple even involved teams which hadn’t qualified for it, according to the original criteria.
Who will play in the new Copa Interamericana? When will it start?
The “new” Copa Interamericana would begin as early as next year and would instead be a four-club tournament to crown the best team in the Americas from the last 12 months. The teams involved would be the winners of the CONCACAF Champions Cup (Club León), the Leagues Cup (Inter Miami or Nashville), the Copa Libertadores and the Copa Sudamericana.
When will we know the participants of the 2024 edition?
The Leagues Cup is, of course, about to come to its conclusion, with Messi’s seemingly unstoppable Inter Miami taking on Nashville SC in the final on Saturday. However, the current South American tournaments still have some way to go, with the Copa Libertadores and the Copa Sudamericana both at the quarter-final stage. The first of those two competitions is due to finish on 4 November, with the final of the latter a week earlier on 28 October.