Report: Orlando Citrus Bowl Will Be Host Venue For Next Summer’s Copa America

The Orlando Citrus Bowl will be a host venue for Copa America matches next summer, according to a report from ESPN.

The 16-team tournament, which is set to take place next June, will feature in 12 different cities, with MetLife Stadium in New Jersey set as the site of the tournament’s final, according to the report. Pasadena’s Rose Bowl, which was the early favorite to host the final, will also be one of the venues, likely serving as the semi-finals host.

In addition to the Citrus Bowl, MetLife, and the Rose Bowl, Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, CA, Seattle's CenturyLink Field; Reliant Stadium in Houston; Soldier Field in Chicago; Philadelphia' Lincoln Financial Field; the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona; and Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, MA, are all locked in to host games, according to the report.

This will be the first major tournament hosted in Orlando since the 1994 World Cup, which also played at the old Citrus Bowl.

Earlier this summer, the Citrus Bowl hosted an international friendly between Mexico and Costa Rico in front of a loud crowd of almost 54,000, a crowd that Orlando was hoping would seal it's case as a host city when it launched it's bid earlier this year.

The City Beautiful also recently hosted the USWNT vs. Brazil and is the home of the Florida Cup, as Orlando continues to strive toward becoming the "soccer capital of the south."