2014 Cosmos Copa field released, with the final to be played before a Cosmos match in August

On Thursday, the Cosmos announced the details of the 6th annual Cosmos Copa, a grassroots tournament in New York every summer. Beyond being an excellent event in general, three players on the current roster have participated in the event before signing with the club. All of Dane Murphy, Stefan Dimitrov and Alessandro Noselli once played in the tournament, which features some very talented players from the greater NY area. The 2014 version will feature 40 teams, in which the squads are formed based on the players' countries of origin.

The eight teams that reached the 2013 quarterfinals are already qualified for the round of 16, those teams include the USA, France, Bolivia, Gambia, Greece, Italy, Poland, and Senegal. The other eight slots will be filled form a 32-team qualifying round in June, featuring Afghanistan, Albania, Argentina, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Ecuador, Egypt, England, El Salvador, Ghana, Guinea, Guyana, Haiti, Holland, Ireland, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Japan, Kosova, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Scotland, Serbia, Spain, Togo, Turkey and Uruguay.

The final of this year's tournament will be held at Hofstra on August 2, just before the Cosmos meet Carolina in an NASL contest. The winner will be honored at halftime of that game.