Uruguay supports Copa América in Brazil but asks for fewer and closer venues

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Uruguayan Football Association (AUF) supported the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) decision to move Copa America to Brazil and asked that the teams do not have to travel long distances.

This was confirmed on Monday by AUF vice-president Gastón Tealdi, who explained that the main continental tournament at the national team level would be centralized in certain areas to happen.

He also said that the ten federations understood that the Copa América should be played on the scheduled dates (from June 13 to July 10) so that the teams do not lose the competition in view of the 2022 World Cup Qatar.

CONMEBOL announced Monday that the Copa America postponed from 2020 will be played in Brazil; after Sunday night, it was reported that Argentina would not organize it due to the intensification of the pandemic in that country.

The highest authority of South American soccer indicated in its Twitter account that the “dates and start of the tournament are confirmed” and that the “venues and fixture will be informed in the coming hours”.

In another later statement, CONMEBOL expressed its gratitude to the president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, as well as to the Brazilian Football Confederation, for “opening the doors of that country to what is today the safest sporting event in the world.”

“South America will shine in Brazil with all its stars,” said the note, which preceded the official announcement with a “the Conmebol Copa América 2021 will be played in Brazil.”

The announcement comes after Argentina was ruled out as host of the tournament that was to be shared with Colombia, which requested a postponement due to the social conflict in that country, which Conmebol did not accept.

Brazil’s Workers’ Party (PT), led by former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, on Monday rejected the country’s hosting of the Copa América soccer tournament that was originally scheduled to be held in Argentina and Colombia.