U.S. Men’s Cerebral Palsy National Team Learn Draw for 2023 Parapan Am Games

CHICAGO, Ill. (August 18, 2023) - The U.S. Men’s Cerebral Palsy (CP) National Team will face hosts, Chile, as well as Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela and Canada at the 2023 Parapan American Games in Santiago, Chile in November, as revealed Friday at the official draw held by the Santiago 2023 Organizing Committee.

The Parapan American Games are a 17-sport event for North, Central and South American Olympic Committees in the vein of the Paralympic Games. The six 7-a-side CP teams will play in a round robin competition from Nov. 18-23, with the top two finishers playing in the Gold Medal match and the third and fourth place teams vying for Bronze on Nov. 25.

The USA won the Bronze Medal at the 2019 Parapan Am Games in Peru with a win over Venezuela to capture its first CP Football medal at the quadrennial tournament.

The 2023 field consists of the hosts, Chile, and the top five ranked teams from the region from International Federation of Cerebral Palsy Football (IFCPF) tournaments held in 2022. Four teams are ranked top-10 worldwide: #2 Brazil, #4 USA, #6 Argentina and #9 Canada, with Venezuela ranked #13 and Chile #21.

All games will be played at the 10,000-seat Estadio Bicentennial de la Florida, which is home to Chilean first-division side Audax Club Sportivo Italiano and was a venue for the 2008 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.

At the 2019 Games in Peru, the USA, Brazil and Argentina finished with identical 4-1-0 records after group play. Goal differential was the deciding tie-breaker, with Brazil (+25) and Argentina (+22) edging the USA (+20) for the top two spots. The U.S. defeated Brazil 3-2 but fell to Argentina 2-0.

More recently, the U.S. and Brazil squared off in the Bronze Medal game at the 2022 IFCPF World Cup in Salou, Spain, with the South Americans claiming the 2-0 victory.

The Pan and Parapan American Games are the largest multidisciplinary international summer sporting event for the Americas, consisting of 41 National Olympic Committees. Held every four years, the inaugural Pan American Games were first staged in 1951, with the Parapan Am Games debuting in 1999.