The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) removed Colombia as the co-host of this year’s Copa America amid civil unrest and surging coronavirus cases in the country.
Notably, Colombia was scheduled to host the showpiece event in four of its cities. Also, the final was slated to be held at 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.
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.
Meanwhile, CONMEBOL also said it was impossible to reschedule the competition because of the packed global football calendar.
Earlier on Wednesday, Argentine President Alberto Fernandez had offered to stage the entire Copa America if Colombia could no longer be a co-host.