Colombia Loses Copa America Games After Civil Unrest

The 2021 Copa America will no longer feature games in co-host nation Colombia after the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) decided to move games away from the country after a wave of civil unrest.

Colombia was set to act as co-hosts for the tournament along with Argentina this summer and was scheduled to stage the final in the city of Barranquilla on 10 July.

CONMEBOL rejected an appeal from the country to postpone the tournament until November due to the protests, which have been taking place across Colombia for several weeks.

“CONMEBOL guarantees the realisation of the 2021 Copa America and in the coming days will inform on where the relocation of those games that were to be held in Colombia,”  the organisation said in a statement.

The tournament is scheduled to take place from 13 June – 10 July after it was postponed in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Brazil are the defending champions and are one of 10 countries set to take part in this year’s tournament.

Chidi Nwoke/Reuters.