BRASILIA: Brazil has cautioned that it is still in “negotiations” with South America’s Football Confederation, CONMEBOL, and the Brazilian Football Confederation, to host Copa America.
The development came a day after CONMEBOL announced that Brazil would host the Copa América championship — in just 13 days. “The CONMEBOL 2021 Copa América will be played in Brazil!” CONMEBOL said on Twitter.
“The start and end dates of the tournament are confirmed. The venues and fixtures will be announced by CONMEBOL in the coming hours. The oldest national team tournament in the world will make a whole continent shake!” it added.
“We were very criticized by some governors and other people because we are announcing this. There is still nothing confirmed. I want to point out very clearly. We are in the middle of the process,” Luiz Eduardo Ramos, chief of staff to the Brazilian presidency, told journalists.
Ramos said that it would be the Brazilian Football Confederation’s responsibility to define venues and negotiate with hosting states and municipalities. Nevertheless, he said, the federal government will try to accommodate the tournament, with certain public health precautions.
The tournament was originally planned to be hosted by Argentina. CONMEBOL did not specify why the tournament had been removed from Argentina, but the country is currently suffering from a rise in coronavirus cases.
If CONMEBOL’s schedule holds, the Copa America should begin in mid-June. The 2020 edition of the tournament was postponed by a year due to the coronavirus pandemic and was set to be held in both Argentina and Colombia between June 13 and July 10.
Colombia was stripped of its co-hosting responsibilities on May 20 following widespread protests across the country that were sparked by a controversial fiscal reform introduced by President Iván Duque.
