Argentina and Columbia were set to host the Copa America 2020, but the tournament was postponed by a year due to the pandemic. Since all the major tournaments are taking place across the globe, Copa America was also expected to take place this summer. However, the second wave in Argentina and unstability in Colombia have raised the doubts over the feasibility of Copa America going ahead. The latest setback came this week as Argentina announced a lockdown until May 30.
Copa America is just three weeks away and it looks like the future of the tournament is uncertain. This news comes just a day after CONMEBOL which is South America’s governing body for football removed Columbia as a co-host as the country demanded to postpone the tournament till the end of the year.
Argentina’s president, Mr. Alberto Fernandes revealed in a statement, “In order to accompany the health measures announced by President Alberto Fernandez to combat the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic that we’re going through, AFA has decided to suspend the scheduling of matches in all competitions … from 8:00 pm today until Sunday, May 30, 2021, inclusive.”
Fernandes has also announced a lockdown on Thursday for 9 days. This will begin on Saturday and the country is going through absolute turmoil as 27,000 cases were found with 500 deaths. Argentina is scheduled to host games from the South Zone and this includes the game between Argentina and Chile on June 13, which will be held in Buenos Aires. The group stage games of countries like Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Uruguay are set to be played in the country.
One semi-final and four quarter-finals are also scheduled to be played in the country. As it stands, Argentina has suspended all the major sporting events till 30th May and this will surely impact Copa America. Copa America is scheduled to begin on June 13 and end on July 11. The first match will be played between Argentina and Chile in Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires, Argentina.