Colombia is going through delicate times, to say the least. Socialunrest has led to continuous days of violence on the streets and the country has been through a conflictive situation with scary scenes all over the territory. With less than a month for the beginning of Copa America 2021, the government requested Conmebol to postpone the competition, but itwas rejected.
The sudden chaos unleashedin Colombia amid socialdiscontent while Covid-19keeps hitting the population has completely changed the landscape ahead of the soccer competition’s kickoff. The country is not going through the best of times to host such an event, but the South American soccer governing body isnot willing to hold up thecontest once again.
Conmebol hasoriginally granted Colombia and Argentina the rights to organize the tournament in 2020, but the coronavirus pandemic halted the event. However, the competition is once again under tough circumstances as with less than three weeks for its beginningmany games have to be relocated soon.
Colombia loses the rights to co-host Copa America 2021
Copa America 2021 might be played exclusively in Argentina (Getty).
Ever since the civil unresthas emergedin Colombia, its rights to hostCopa America 2021began to be at risk, and with the tournament looming around, this decision seemed inevitable. After Conmebol’s confirmation that the competition will take place on the same dates anyways,Argentinawould be receiving the sole responsibility of hosting every single game of the tournament.
Despite theColombiangovernment’s attempts to be optimistic about things calmingdown soon, the disturbance hasn’t stopped and many started to think it would bedifficult for such a high-profile event to take place under thatatmosphere.
However, postponing the Copa America doesn’t seem an option either, so it would begin as expectedwhile Conmebol figures out where to relocate the matches that were scheduled at Colombia.
Should they receive the hole responsibility of hosting the tournament,Argentina would expand its venues to La Plata and San Juan, according to reports. Even though the country’s situation is far from being good in terms of Covid-19 daily cases,the President- who has recently announced anine-day lockdown from Saturday, May 22 -has confirmed that they would host the tournament and now they might do it all on their own.
see also
Copa America 2021: Complete schedule, format, and key dates
