The games are scheduled to start in about two weeks in Brazil, where the rate of new infections is slowing but cases remain high.
The Copa América, South America’s largest soccer tournament, will be played in Brazil instead of Argentina, which is suffering its worst outbreak of the pandemic, organizers said on Monday. Conmebol, the South American soccer federation, said on Twitter that the games would be the “safest sporting event in the world” after announcing the change. The dates for the individual games and the specific stadiums will be announced later on Monday. With the tournament due to begin in less than two weeks, organizers are scrambling to hold the event, the oldest regional soccer tournament in the world, at a time when the coronavirus is spreading faster in South America than anywhere else. The games were originally scheduled to be held in Colombia and Argentina, but organizers dropped the Colombia portion earlier this month after a series of deadly protests there. In Argentina, the government and the public were torn over the wisdom of hosting a monthlong international tournament while the pandemic was raging, a discussion that mirrors the one taking place in Japan over holding the Tokyo Olympics this summer.
