Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium will soon be the site for more international soccer
Charlotte will add to its growing reputation as a soccer city this summer.
CONMEBOL, the governing body of soccer in South America, announced Monday that Bank of America Stadium in uptown Charlotte will serve as the host venue for two key matches in CONMEBOL Copa America 2024.
The city’s largest stadium will be the site for a semifinal match on July 10, as well as a third place playoff on July 13. The event will pit several of the top international squads in the world against one another — including headliners Argentina (which won the 2022 World Cup), Brazil and Colombia.
The United States men’s national team and Mexico also qualified for this special edition tournament — which will feature 10 CONMEBOL teams and six CONCACAF guest teams. It’s considered one of the most prestigious international competitions on this side of the world.
The competition will be played on natural grass, which will be imported and temporarily replace Bank of America Stadium’s turf.
“It’s an incredible honor for Bank of America Stadium, and Charlotte, North Carolina, to be selected as a host city for CONMEBOL Copa America 2024,” Charlotte FC president Joe LaBue said in a statement. “It speaks volumes about our city, our fan base and the greater Carolinas community that CONMEBOL chose our home as the site of two monumental matches in the international game.
“The eyes of the world will be on uptown in July, and we can’t wait to showcase Charlotte as one of America’s best soccer cities.”
This will be the first time Charlotte has hosted this event, and it’ll mark the second consecutive year one of FIFA’s regional international competitions has visited Bank of America Stadium. The first was the 2023 Gold Cup matches, which featured the U.S. men’s national team’s debut. (Natural grass was brought in for that competition, as well.)
The event is expected to draw approximately 150,000 people to uptown that week. This is significant, but certainly not the first time soccer spirit has consumed the city: Charlotte FC, which just finished its second season in MLS, hosted a then-league record 74,479 in its magical first contest. The team sold more than 66,000 tickets when phenom Lionel Messi came to town in Charlotte FC’s regular-season finale, and it sold just over 52,000 when Chelsea came to town for an international friendly in the summer of 2022.
This marks the latest of a string of events that have come to Bank of America Stadium in the past two years. The Charlotte Sports Foundation and Tepper Sports and Entertainment announced an extension of their partnership to host events in Bank of America Stadium last month.
“We look forward to continuing to add marquee events outside of the Carolina Panthers and Charlotte FC to our calendar at Bank of America Stadium as it continues to serve as a community asset for the Carolinas,” said Tepper Sports and Entertainment chief venues officer Caroline Wright.
