United Soccer Leagues (USL)

NEW YORK -- CONCACAF (The Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football) today unveiled the stadiums that will host matches in the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup™, the eighth edition of the tournament that crowns the region’s top national team. The 2005 event will feature more games in more cities than ever before, as a record seven stadiums in six US cities will host 25 matches from 6-24 July. Previous editions of the CONCACAF Gold Cup have been held in up to three different venues.

The 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup™ venues include four stadiums new to the event; Qwest Field in Seattle (Washington); the Home Depot Center near Los Angeles in Carson (California); Reliant Stadium in Houston (Texas); and Giants Stadium close to New York City in East Rutherford (New Jersey). The other three venues are the Orange Bowl in Miami (Florida); Gillette Stadium close to Boston in Foxboro (Massachusetts), both of which were Gold Cup venues in 2003, and; the L.A. Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles (California) which last saw Gold Cup action in 2000.

The first round of the 2005 tournament will consist of three groups of four teams competing on a round-robin basis from 6-13 July. Group A will be based at the Orange Bowl in Miami while Group B will have two game days in Seattle’s Qwest Field before traveling to Gillette Stadium for the third and final day of Group B play. Group C will start out in Los Angeles with matches at the Home Depot Center and the L.A. Memorial Coliseum, before playing the final Group C games in Houston’s Reliant Stadium.

The top two teams from each group, along with the two best third-place teams, will proceed to the Quarterfinals that will take place in Gillette Stadium on July 16 and Reliant Stadium on 17 July. Giants Stadium will host the Semifinals on 21 July and Gold Cup Final on 24 July.

Commenting on the announcement of venues, CONCACAF General Secretary Chuck Blazer said, “The popularity of the CONCACAF Gold Cup has grown year over year and the 2005 edition promises to be the biggest and best Gold Cup yet. There will be more games in more stadiums in more cities than ever before, bringing the region’s leading soccer event for national teams to millions more fans. All the venues being announced today are first-class facilities fitting for an event that crowns the CONCACAF Champion.” Mr. Blazer added, “Fans of every country in the CONCACAF region will witness an incredible spectacle of world-class soccer with 12 doubleheaders on 12 match-days with the crowning of the Gold Cup champion coming in one of the greatest venues in the world, Giants Stadium.”

The 12-team field of the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup™ will be comprised of 10 CONCACAF nations and two invitees. The 10 CONCACAF countries will include three teams to emerge from Caribbean Qualifying (Digicel Cup), four from Central American Qualifying (UNCAF Nations Cup), three automatic qualifiers from the North Zone (Canada, Mexico & USA) along with guest team South Africa, host of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™, and another invitee to be announced.

The three teams to advance from Caribbean Qualifying will clinch their Gold Cup berths through the CFU (Caribbean Football Union) Digicel Cup Final Round that will take place in Waterford, St. Michaels in Barbados from 20-24 February. Cuba, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago will join host Barbados in the matches that will be held at the National Stadium. The 2005 UNCAF (Union Centroamericana de Fútbol) Nations Cup, which will qualify four Central American nations to the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup™, is scheduled to run from 19-27 February in Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala. The UNCAF Nations Cup will consist of two groups for the first round of play: Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua and host Guatemala in Group A, while Costa Rica, El Salvador and Panama make up Group B.

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1991 USA Honduras Los Angeles, Pasadena (USA)
1993 Mexico USA Dallas (USA); Ciudad de México (México)
1996 Mexico Brazil Anaheim, San Diego, Los Angeles (USA)
1998 Mexico USA Oakland, Miami, Los Angeles (USA)
2000 Canada Colombia San Diego, Miami, Los Angeles (USA)
2002 USA Costa Rica Pasadena, Miami (USA)
2003 Mexico Brazil Foxboro, Miami (USA); Ciudad de México (México)

GIANTS STADIUM (East Rutherford, New Jersey)
New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority
50 State Route 120
East Rutherford, NJ 07073
Phone: 201.935.8500
Year Opened: 1976
Capacity: 80,242
Website: www.meadowlands.com

Giants Stadium is the home of the MLS’ MetroStars. In 1994, Giants Stadium was a site for the FIFA World Cup, hosting seven games including a semifinal. Additional events in Giants Stadium's rich soccer history include the New York Cosmos with legendary Pele in the years of the NASL, the 1999 Women's World Cup and Opening Ceremonies, the Parmalat Cup, U.S. Soccer Cup and MLS All-Star Game. In the past three years, Manchester United, Juventus, AC Milan, Mexico, Real Madrid, FC Porto, AS Roma and Peru have all played international matches at the stadium.

"It is an honor for us to host the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Giants Stadium has a rich international soccer tradition and the sport is very popular with residents in the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area. Just as we did with the World Cup in 1994, we will roll out the red carpet and look forward to an exciting time come July.” - George Zoffinger, President and CEO of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (NJSEA)

Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. opened in 2002 on the site of famed Foxboro Stadium, one of the most popular venues in U.S. Soccer history (hosting five women's matches and 10 men's games from 1991 to 2001). The U.S. Men's National Team, which never lost at Foxboro Stadium (7-0-3), now boasts a 5-1 record at Gillette Stadium. Three matchdays of 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup were played at Gillette Stadium, which drew over 57,000 soccer fans. The original Foxboro Stadium hosted five games at the 1999 Women's World Cup, and was also one of nine U.S. venues at the 1994 FIFA World Cup. The venerable old stadium also hosted the inaugural MLS Cup in 1996 and the inaugural WUSA Founder's Cup in 2001.

"The New England Revolution and the Kraft Family are honored to host the CONCACAF Gold Cup again. As one of the premier venues for international soccer in the U.S., Gillette Stadium is ideally-suited for a tournament of this caliber and we look forward to again partnering with CONCACAF." - Craig Tornberg, New England Revolution General Manager

HOME DEPOT CENTER (Carson, California)
18400 Avalon Blvd., Suite 200
Carson, CA 90746
Phone: (310) 630-2200
Year Opened: 2003
Capacity: 27,000
Website: http://www.homedepotcenter.com/home/default.sps

The Home Depot Center's 27,000-seat state-of-the-art soccer stadium is the home of Major Leagues Soccer's Club Deportivo Chivas USA and the Los Angeles Galaxy. The soccer stadium has hosted major national and international events, including the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup championship game, the 2003 MLS All-Star Game, two MLS Cup championships games (2003 and 2004) and the 2004 NCAA College Cup. The stadium hosts international events, including the first two editions of InterLiga (2004 and 2005) and several matches featuring the Mexican National Team. The Home Depot Center is also the soccer training headquarters for the United States Soccer Federation National Teams and offers nine practice fields for training purposes.

“The Home Depot Center has been the home of many of the most important soccer events and championships since our opening less than two years ago. We are proud to be hosting this year's Gold Cup and know that the southern California sports fans will be treated to a great competition."” - Bill Peterson, Managing Director of the Home Depot Center

LOS ANGELES MEMORIAL COLISEUM (Los Angeles, California)
3911 South Figueroa Street
Los Angeles, CA 90037
Phone: (213) 747-7111
Year Opened: 1921 (renovated in 1993)
Capacity: 92,000
Website: http://www.lacoliseum.com/start.html

Arguably, the Coliseum has been the site of more major international soccer matches than any other venue in the world, including the 1996 and 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup Final matches (Mexico vs. Brazil in ’96, Mexico vs. USA in ‘98), each drawing sellout crowds of more than 90,000, a 1999 match that featured Mexico vs. Argentina, also in front of more than 90,000 and the 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup. In addition, the Coliseum has hosted countless other matches featuring both National and club teams from North, Central and South America, Europe and Asia, including the Manchester United’s 2003 Los Angeles match against Club America and the Korean National team’s 2005 competition vs. Colombia and Paraguay.

“We are very much looking forward to the return of the CONCACAF Gold Cup Tournament. It’s a great event, and it has created some truly historic moments, such as the 1998 Finals with USA vs. Mexico, where the Coliseum completely sold out and an overflow crowd was accommodated at the Sports Arena to watch the match on closed circuit televsion. We look forward to recreating that excitement” - Pat Lynch, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and Sports Arena General Manager

ORANGE BOWL (Miami, Florida)
1501 N.W. 3rd Street
Miami, Florida 33125
Phone: (305) 643-7100
Year Opened: 1937
Capacity: 74,177
Website: http://www.ci.miami.fl.us/PublicFacilities/Stadiums/Orange_bowl/

The Orange Bowl, which will be hosting the Gold Cup for a record fifth consecutive edition since 1998, has been the site of several of the country’s greatest soccer matches including the 1996 Summer Olympics. Among the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifiers held at the Orange Bowl were Jamaica vs. Guatemala (2001) and most recently Mexico vs. St. Kitts & Nevis (Nov. 13, 2004). The U.S. National Team has played at the stadium several times and the facility also hosted MLS Spring Training in 2002. Along with several international tournaments over the years, the Orange Bowl has staged international matches including USA vs. Haiti and Colombia vs. Argentina in 2004.

Seattle's Qwest Field has hosted an amazing array of soccer competitions that have included amateur tournaments, Seattle Sounders USL First Division professional soccer, and international exhibition matches. Qwest Field has hosted several international games in recent years. A matchup between the United States Men’s National Team versus Venezuela has held in March 2003. In July 2003, Qwest Field hosted an exhibition soccer match between Manchester United and Celtic which drew a sellout crowd of 67,000 fans. In July 2004, the facility hosted another exhibition soccer match between Chelsea and Celtic. Half a million people in the greater Seattle area are involved in soccer. Washington state is number one in youth soccer participation per capita and has one of the country's largest adult soccer communities.

"We are excited about hosting such a prestigious and important international soccer tournament. The CONCACAF Gold Cup matches at Qwest Field will give soccer fans in Seattle and throughout the Pacific Northwest an amazing opportunity to see some of the world's best soccer players compete." - Tod Leiweke, CEO of the Seattle Seahawks and First and Goal Inc.

Reliant Stadium has been the host to some of the most exciting soccer matches in the United States since opening its doors just over two years ago. Matches have featured both the U.S. Men’s and Women’s National Teams, the Mexican National Team, Mexican club teams and European powers. The biggest soccer match held at Reliant Stadium was an exhibition featuring the U.S. vs. Mexico in 2003. The crowd of 70,000 was the largest to watch a soccer game in Texas and was voted the best U.S. Soccer crowd of 2003. Reliant Stadium has hosted matches for the first two editions of InterLiga (2004 and 2005), staging the finals this month. With a capacity of 70,000 and a community that is both knowledgeable and passionate about soccer, Reliant Stadium will continue to be a favorite venue for both teams and fans to celebrate the sport. Since its inauguration, Reliant Stadium has been the home of the Houston Texans of the NFL and also hosted the Super Bowl XXXVIII in February 2004.

“We are very excited and pleased to host Gold Cup games at Reliant Stadium this summer. Houston has been the host city for several major sporting events in the past year, including the Super Bowl, Major League Baseball All-Star Game and National League Championship Series. This is another great event to add to the list and that we are proud to host. We are excited to be hosting Gold Cup matches this summer and show off our soccer fans, our stadium, our city and our Texas hospitality.” - Jamey Rootes, President Lone Star Sports and Entertainment

About CONCACAF
CONCACAF “The Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football” is one of six continental confederations of FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) and serves as the governing body of football in this part of the world. It is composed of 40 national associations, from Canada in the north to Surinam in the south.

About the CONCACAF Gold Cup™
The CONCACAF Gold Cup™ is CONCACAF’s showpiece event for men’s national teams as it crowns the regional champion. The USA won the inaugural competition in 1991, defeating Honduras before 40,000 fans at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum in California. Mexico then won three consecutive titles, the third in 1998 before a crowd of 91,000 in Los Angeles, before Canada won its first major international honor in more than 100 years of football history in 2000. After the USA claimed the 2002 title, Mexico returned to the top of the Confederation with their fourth crown in 2003. The 2005 edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup™ will take place in the USA from 6 – 24 July.

About SUM
Founded in 2002 and headquartered in New York City, Soccer United Marketing (SUM) is the largest promoter of international soccer matches in the United States. SUM entered into a partnership in Fall 2004 with CONCACAF to design and execute operations, marketing and promotional plans for the 2005 edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup™.