May 21 – Just weeks before the start of the tournament, Colombia have been stripped of joint hosting rights for the Copa America, leaving Argentina to stage the entire event next month or share with 11th-hour replacement co-hosts.
With a wave of civil unrest sweeping through the country, Conmebol as anticipated took the step to move games away from Colombia in what would have been the first co-hosting in the 105-year history of the world’s oldest continental football competition.
The tournament is scheduled for June 13 to July 11 with 15 games of the 28 games having been slated for Colombia – including the final in Barranquilla.
Conmebol said there was no chance of the 10-nation tournament being called off after an appeal from Colombia to move it to the November was rejected because of “the international calendar and logistics of the tournament.”
“We guarantee the realisation of the 2021 Copa America and in the coming days will inform on the relocation of those games that were to be held in Colombia,” a statement said..
Protests have been ongoing in Colombia since April after the government tried to implement a controversial tax plan. Colombia has also been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, with the death toll surpassing 83,000 this week.
But Argentina is under a strict lockdown until May 31 after also being disastrously affected by the pandemic.
Ecuador, Brazil, Peru and Venezuela would have played in Colombia, along with the co-hosts, with fellow hosts Argentina welcoming Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay.
The five teams based in Colombia now face an anxious wait to see where they will now be based, with Chile being touted as a possible replacement if Argentina is not given the green light to go it alone.
The decision to strip Colombia is a crushing blow to a nation that was also forced to give up the right to host the 1986 World Cup finals, which were instead handed to Mexico. But Conmebol had little choice from a security standpoint, with the street protests already having cost 42 lives.
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