ASUNCION: The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) said on Thursday that Colombia will no longer co-host this year's Copa America amid civil unrest and surging coronavirus cases. Colombia had been scheduled to host fixtures in four cities, and the final was earmarked for Barranquilla's Estadio Metropolitano on July 10.
"CONMEBOL guarantees the realization of the 2021 Copa America and in the coming days will inform where the games originally allocated to Colombia will be played," COMEBOL said in a statement, Xinhua reports.
The announcement came just hours after Colombian sports minister Ernesto Lucena asked CONMEBOL to postpone the tournament until local coronavirus restrictions were eased to allow fans into stadia.
CONMEBOL said it was impossible to reschedule the competition because of the tight global football calendar.
Argentine President Alberto Fernandez this week offered to stage the entire Copa America if Colombia could no longer be a co-host.
Colombia is currently grappling with a prolonged third wave of Covid-19 infections and many cities have strict nightly curfews while large public gatherings remain banned. IANS
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