The Brazilian Football Confederation has named venues for the 2021 Copa America which will kick off on June 13 and end on 10 July 2021. This is a confirmation that the competition for the 10 South American countries will take place as planned after a series of back and forth.
Recall that Copa America was postponed from June 12 2020 to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic that affected the flow of football last year.
Also, it was planned that the competition would be held Jointly by Argentina and Columbia. Earlier in the year, Columbia was stripped of the hosting rights due to a political uprising in the country.
Afterward, Argentina was stripped of the hosting rights due to the increasing number of coronavirus cases in the country. To the surprise of many, Brazil was announced as the new host of Copa America.
Since the South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) announced that Brazil will be the host of the 2021 Copa America, most people criticized the decision because Brazil hosted and won the last edition of the competition.
Besides that, many critics believe that Brazil is also facing the rising cases of coronavirus that are being reported in Argentina. The critics also believe that Brazil is facing a political uprising as many residents in Brazil have been agitating against President Jair Bolsonaro over the nonchalant attitude towards the handling of the coronavirus pandemic in the country.
“It doesn’t seem fair to me that Brazil is hosting the Copa America again because it was the host last time (in 2019),” Peru coach Ricardo Gareca said. “I think the fair thing would be to see other options.”
As it stands, these agitations don’t longer matter as Brazil has made their hosting of the Copa America official by naming the venues for the competition.
According to the country’s FA, the prestigious Maracanã stadium will host the final of the Copa America on July 10 behind closed doors.
All the games involving the 10 countries that will participate in the competition will take place in four Brazilian cities – Brasília, Goiânia, Cuiabá, and Rio de Janeiro under strict protocols. The names of the stadiums that will be used throughout the competition include Maracanã, Mané Garrincha, Pantanal, and the Olímpico.
Below is the full fixtures of Copa America 2021
Group Stage
Matchday 1
Argentina vs Chile
Paraguay vs Bolivia
Brazil vs Venezuela
Colombia vs Ecuador
Matchday 2
Chile vs. Bolivia
Argentina vs. Uruguay
Colombia vs. Venezuela
Peru vs. Brazil
Matchday 3
Uruguay vs. Chile
Argentina vs. Paraguay
Venezuela vs. Ecuador
Colombia vs. Peru
Matchday 4
Bolivia vs. Uruguay
Chile vs. Paraguay
Ecuador vs. Peru
Colombia vs. Brazil
Matchday 5
Argentina vs. Bolivia
Uruguay vs. Paraguay
Ecuador vs. Brazil
Venezuela vs. Peru
Copa America 2021 knockout stage schedule
Quarter-finals
No. 2 Group A vs. No. 3 Group B
No. 1 Group A vs. No. 4 Group B No. 2 Group B vs. No. 3 Group A No. 1 Group B vs. No. 4 Group A
Semi-finals
QF 1 Winner vs QF 2 winner
QF 3 Winner vs QF 4 winner
Third-place match
Semi-final 1 loser vs Semi-final 2 loser
Final
SF 1 Winner vs SF 2 Winner
