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THE
AMERICA CUP - What it is...
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The
America Cup is a continent-wide competition of national soccer teams.
It is the world's oldest soccer championship and - after the World
Soccer Games, celebrated every four years - soccer's most important
event. Soccer is by far the world's premier spectator sport. In
fact, the International Football Federation (FIFA) oversees some
20 million official matches per year. Soccer routinely attracts
larger audiences than any other sport in the world
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In
all South American countries, with the exception of Venezuela, soccer
is by far the most popular spectator sport. It is a sport that is
dominated by superstars such as Garrincha, Pelé, DiStefano, Maradona,
Valderrama and more recently Ronaldo, who have become veritable
idols to soccer fans everywhere. Since 1973, when Pelé joined the
Cosmos, soccer has been making important inroads in the US market.
Just 20 years later, awareness of the sport had grown to such an
extent that the US easily won the right to host the 1994 World Soccer
Games.
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Since
1916, the America Cup has been celebrated on 39 different occasions.
Teams from member countries are brought together by the South American
Confederation of Football - CONMEBOL - to compete for the America
Cup and to play great soccer. Traditionally, and with only rare
exceptions, the best teams and the best players have all hailed
from South America.
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Although
The America Cup playoffs originally took place in various countries,
since 1987 the event has been sponsored by a host country. This
has served to focus the attention of the rest of the continent on
the host country and on its national team. Furthermore, since 1993
the event has included two additional teams (chosen from Mexico,
the US and Canada) and invited from the ranks of the CONCACAF -the
Central American Confederation of Football. Their presence has served
to expand viewing audiences, as reflected by the increase in radio
and TV broadcast licenses issued. More commercial sponsors now participate
in the America Cup, including a number of companies of international
renown. It has been estimated that the next America Cup games will
be viewed by some 3.2 billion people in 160 countries throughout
the world.
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