Philadelphia to host 2015 Gold Cup final

United States players celebrate with the trophy after United States defeated Panama 1-0 during the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup. (Nam Y. Huh/AP)

MIAMI — Soccer’s governing body for North and Central America and the Caribbean has called a news conference for March 12 in Philadelphia to announce this year’s Gold Cup final will be at Lincoln Financial Field.

The United States will open its title defence in the 12-nation championship on July 7. The tournament also includes Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama and Trinidad and Tobago. The final spot will be determined by a playoff between French Guyana and Honduras on March 25 and 29.

The U.S. won the 2013 title and if it wins this year’s tournament will qualify for the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia. If another nation wins the 2015 Gold Cup, it would meet the Americans in a playoff for the Confederations Cup berth.

When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.