Qatar and Japan are meeting again
It has been confirmed for a while now that the next Copa America edition, played between June 14 and July 7, will host Japan and Qatar. But why has CONMEBOL invited two teams from another federation?
History of the tournament
We can find the answer in the structure of South American Football Confederation, in fact, the organization represents only 10 teams, that aren’t enough to form the tournament, therefore for each edition of Copa America, some guests are invited to join the competition. Until the previous season, 6 teams were invited, for a total amount of 16, but from 2018 it has been decided to reduce it to 2 guest teams, to give it the same structure of all other competitions in South America.
Usually, the invited teams are from CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football) because they are geographically closer to South America. From the moment that CONMEBOL and AFC also have close links together, this year they two Asian teams have been invited instead.
What is so interesting about this choice?
After being chosen for Copa America, Qatar and Japan have been protagonists of another important competition: the AFC Asian Cup, nothing less than the second oldest continental football championship in the world after Copa America.
They did not only played it, but they managed to do it with impressive results, both of them participating in the final match of the competition.
We love this coincidence: the two teams selected by Copa America turned out to be the team with the best performance in Asia, and this is creating a lot of expectation towards the South American competition, generating hundreds of thousands of views from Asia and the Middle East and increasing the overall rivalry of the event.
Track record and Achievements
Qatar is the team that took home the trophy, winning its first title in the competition. Moreover, Qatar will have some busy days ahead, participating in Copa America in 2019 and also hosting the World Cup in 2022.
Japan that has four titles of AFC Asian Cup arrived only second in the 2019 edition, but now it will have a chance to have another try for the win during Copa America.
Differently, from Qatar, Japan already joined the competition back in 1999, ending at the bottom of his group, after Bolivia, Perù, and Paraguay.
Will it shine more this time? And will the South American teams leave a chance to the guest countries?
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