Only thirteen days prior to Copa America 2021, the venue has been shifted to Brazil owing to a multitude of cases in the original host country Argentina
Prior to the commencement of Copa America 2021, the showpiece tournament has already seen a slew of unsavoury issues emerge. Social unrest in Colombia saw the country be stripped of its status to co-host the event alongside Argentina last week.
And it wasn’t long before Argentina were also snatched of the rights to conduct the premier competition. Monday saw CONMEBOL reveal that Argentina would no longer be holding the Copa America courtesy of a string of COVID positive cases in the country.
Copa America 2021 Venue Shifted From Argentina To Brazil
In a bid to stave clear of the potential damage holding the tournament could have in Argentina, CONMEBOL decided it was prudent to nail down on a new venue. And hours after Argentina were dismissed at the hosts, CONMEBOL have revealed that Brazil will now be the new hosts for Copa America 2021.
South America’s CONMEBOL football federation tweeted about the latest development on Monday saying, “The CONMEBOL Copa America 2021 will be played in Brazil!”
The announcement which comes just thirteen days prior to the commencing of the competition will continue and the original June 13-July 10 dates were maintained. CONMEBOL is expected to come up with the venues and detailed schedule of the competition later in the day.
Brazil Sees Second Highest COVID Deaths
According the rights to Brazil though is a decision which has not been welcome by many. The country which last hosted the Copa America in 2019 is one of the countries in the world worst affected by the COVID pandemic. Brazil currently has the second-highest death toll with 460,000 falling prey to the disease so far and more than 16.5 million people testing positive.
The competition which was slated to be held last year was postponed to the deadly outbreak of Coronavirus across the global stage. And the decision to hold the event in Brazil leaves many question marks hanging over CONMEBOL’s decision making with teams from South America being put to the sword of COVID.
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