CONMEBOL announced Brazil as the new host for the 2021 Copa America. The tournament was initially supposed to take place in Colombia and Argentina, but both countries were dropped due to different crises.
“The CONMEBOL [Copa America] 2021 will be played in Brazil! Tournament start and end dates are confirmed. The venues and fixtures will be informed by CONMEBOL in the next few hours. The oldest national team tournament in the world will thrill the entire continent!”
CONMEBOL statemend said.
Argentina and Colombia lost their status as joint hosts last month, on May 20 and May 31, respectively. While Argentina is suffering from a dangerous COVID-19 surge, domestic protests have engulfed Colombia into flames. CONMEBOL was said to be evaluating multiple options regarding the tournament – including either hosting it in the USA or cancelling it altogether. Instead, they ended up shifting the competition to Brazil following the approval of the Brazilian government.
However, there is still ambiguity regarding the tournament with the host cities yet to be confirmed. According to Vene Casagrande of Jornal O Dia, seven Brazilian states have backed out of hosting the tournament as they don’t think that it should be taking place during these times of crisis. The brunt of hosting the pan-continental competition will fall upon four states – Brasilia, Goiana, Cuiaba, and Vitoria.
Furthermore, Brazil-based Tim Vickery journalist wrote on Twitter that Brazil’s chief of staff has denied that the tournament will indeed be held in his country.
The tournament is currently scheduled to begin on June 11, 2021, with ten nations involved.
