Copa America moved to Brazil amid COVID-19 increase in Argentina

The Copa America soccer tournament has been moved to Brazil, nearly one day after the competition’s governing body announced that Argentina would no longer host the event due to COVD-19 concerns.

CONMEBOL, the governing body of the Copa America tournament, announced on Sunday that the competition, scheduled to be played from June 13 through July 10, would not be played in Argentina because of “present circumstances,” referring to the country’s spike in coronavirus cases, according to ESPN.

Less than one day later, however, the South American soccer governing body announced that Brazil would host the games.

¡La CONMEBOL @CopaAmerica 2021 se jugará en Brasil! Las fechas de inicio y finalización del torneo están confirmadas. Las sedes y el fixture serán informados por la CONMEBOL en las próximas horas. ¡El torneo de selecciones más antiguo del mundo hará vibrar a todo el continente!

— CONMEBOL.com (@CONMEBOL) May 31, 2021

Organization President Alejandro Dominguez wrote on Twitter that the council’s decision to move the tournament to Brazil was unanimous, according to a translation from ESPN.

Hoy recibimos el firme respaldo de los miembros del Consejo de la CONMEBOL, quienes por unanimidad aprobaron la propuesta de disputar la CONMEBOL @CopaAmerica 2021 en Brasil. Es una satisfacción contar con el apoyo constante de nuestros compañeros.

— Alejandro Domínguez (@agdws) May 31, 2021

The tournament, which involves 10 South American countries, was originally supposed to be played in Colombia, in addition to Argentina, according to ESPN.

Colombia, however, dropped out as a co-host on May 20 after CONMEBOL rejected its request to postpone the tournament, the cable sports channel reported. The country reportedly wanted to delay the competition because of social and economic unrest in the region.

Argentina has seen a surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths in recent weeks. The country has recorded more than 3.7 million coronavirus cases and more than 76,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic, according to data from the World Health Organization.

The country has administered more than 10.7 million doses of coronavirus vaccine.