Brazil will host delayed 2021 Copa America

The 2021 Copa America will be played in Brazil this summer, marking the second time in the space of three years that the South American championship will have been played in the country.

The Copa America was originally due to be jointly hosted by Argentina and Colombia in 2020 but was postponed for a year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

However, with the tournament to go ahead in 2021, Colombia was recently removed as a host country as a result of domestic unrest and protests against president Ivan Duque. Argentina then dropped out as a host due to ongoing concerns over coronavirus cases.

It would have been Argentina’s first time hosting since 2011 and Colombia’s first since 2001. It was also going to be to be the first ever co-hosted Copa America spread across two nations.

But Brazil is stepping in to host the delayed tournament instead, having last hosted in 2019. The competition will begin on 13 June and conclude with the final on 10 July.

There has been some confusion over the decision to move the competition to Brazil, as they too have been gripped by a surge in coronavirus cases and political unrest.

A revised format will see a reduction to 10 participating countries and the first time since 1991 that there haven’t been any guest invitees from other confederations, such as Mexico, USA, Costa, Rica, Japan, Jamaica, Qatar and others.

There will be two groups of five, with the top four in each progressing to the quarter-finals.

Group A: Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay

Group B: Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru

Brazil lifted the trophy in 2019 and will be strong favourites to retain the title, having won every previous Copa America they have hosted – five wins in five tournaments in Brazil.

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