NEW YORK, NY – The New York Cosmos today officially announced the Cosmos Copa tournament schedule which begins with the qualifying round on the weekend of July 13. On Monday evening, eight teams that qualified over the weekend and eight quarterfinalists from 2012 participated in the group stage draw at E&E Grill in midtown Manhattan.
The eight teams to make it out of qualifying were: Argentina, Croatia, France, El Salvador, Gambia, Italy, Ivory Coast and Uruguay. Last year’s eight quarterfinalists – Bolivia, Colombia, Greece, Jamaica, Poland, Senegal, USA and returning champion Haiti – make up the rest of the pack.
The 16 teams were split into four groups of four; of the four in each group, one is a semifinalist and one a quarterfinalist from 2012, and two are from the batch of newly qualified sides.
Image Credit: New York Cosmos
The qualifying round begins July 13 at Pier 40 in Manhattan and continues the following day, July 14, at Randall’s Island. Below is the full qualifying round schedule.
Here is the full draw for the group stage:
Group A: NYC Haiti, NYC Greece, NYC Argentina, NYC Gambia
Group B: NYC Poland, NYC USA, NYC Ivory Coast, NYC Uruguay
Group C: NYC Senegal, NYC Jamaica, NYC Croatia, NYC France
Group D: NYC Bolivia, NYC Colombia, NYC El Salvador, NYC Italy
The Cosmos Copa Quarterfinals and Semifinals will be held in Brooklyn this year. The quarters visit Verrazano Sports Complex on Saturday, July 20, while semifinals will be on July 21 at the beautiful new Pier 5 at Brooklyn Bridge Park.
For the first time, the Cosmos Copa Final will be held at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island. This is the same field where Pelé made his debut for the New York Cosmos in 1975. The winner of the final on July 28 will be awarded the Cosmos Cup.
For more info on Cosmos Copa, visit CosmosCopa.com and find the tournament’s pages on Facebook and Twitter.
