August 5 – The South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) distributed $1.3 billion among its associations and clubs between 2016 and 2021, the organisation’s president Alejandro Dominguez claimed in a virtual meeting with his council.
The Conmebol president was keen to highlight that the figure was “much higher” than what was distributed in 2016, presenting his ruling body as a steady and healthy organisation during a time when football and its finances are getting pounded by the coronavirus pandemic. He also stressed that the money will keep flowing in the coming months.
Dominguez praised the 2021 Copa America in Brazil, a tournament that was postponed by a year because of the global health crisis and then shifted at the eleventh hour from co-hosts Argentina and Colombia to Brazil, at the time the world’s Covid-19 epicenter. Despite a continental finals behind closed doors, numerous coronavirus cases within the tournament bubble and general Copa America fatigue, the South American supremo claimed that efficient sanitary protocols did their job and that the tournament had broken broadcast records despite competing for attention with Euro 2020.
It was the fourth Copa America in the space of just six years and the second consecutive time that Brazil staged the tournament. Ecuador will host the next finals in 2024.
The Conmebol council also approved scheduling triple headers for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers in both September and October to catch up on fixtures that had to be postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The calendar change is subject to approval from FIFA.
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