For the
first time in its 105-year history, Copa America was set to be jointly hosted
by two nations, with Argentina and Colombia slated to co-host the South American
football festival. However, South American football federation CONMEBOL disqualified
Colombia from hosting over unrests stemming from anti-government protests, with
Brazil replacing Argentina on Monday due to a recent surge in COVID-19 cases.

CONMEBOL chief
Alejandro Dominguez thanked Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro for “opening the
doors” to the country and for hosting the tournament on short notice, according
to the Indian Express.

The decision to make Brazil the hosts was a unanimous one among the CONMEBOL council members, Dominguez said. Scrapping the tournament would have resulted in huge financial losses – the 2019 edition brought in around $118 million in revenue, behind only the Copa Libertadores, the South American edition of the UEFA Champions League. 

However,
the decision has not gone down well with large sections in Brazil, which is one
of the worst-affected countries from the COVID-19 pandemic in the world. The country has the second-highest death toll in the world, of over 460,000, and over 16.5 million
cases so far, according to AFP.

Brazil’s Fiocruz
research institute had recently warned of a new surge in the country, which is hard-hit
by the new, more infectious P.1 strain of coronavirus and struggling to meet the large demands of medical
supplies.

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Bolsonaro is himself in the line of fire over his government’s response to the pandemic, with protesters across the country calling for the 66-year-old’s resignation. But the firebrand leader had welcomed the Copa America’s shift to Brazil, saying, “Since the beginning of the pandemic I have been saying, I regret the deaths, but we have to live.”

A
number of politicians have denounced the move, with opposition
congressman Marcelo Freixo among its biggest critics. “Argentina refused the
Copa America because of the worsening pandemic. There, the average of deaths in
the last seven days was 470 people… Here, it’s 1,844. FOUR TIMES MORE. This
is a picture of a murderous government,” he said.

Senator
Renan Calheiros, the rapporteur of an inquiry into the Bolsonaro government’s handling
of the COVID crisis, said the Copa America was the “Championship of Death”.

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“It is
unbelievable that the federal government wants to host the Copa América here in
Brazil at the very moment when the pandemic is at its worst, filling our
cemeteries and our ICUs like never before. And the third wave is starting to
arrive,” he was quoted as saying by CNN. He has also publicly appealed to star
players like Neymar to not participate in the tournament.

Former
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is among the opposition leaders
who have moved the Supreme Court in an attempt to block the tournament. Sports
commentator Alexendre Lozetti of TV Globo said, “Suggestions for a mascot for
the Copa America in Brazil? How about Covidinho (Little COVID)?”

Argentina
striker Sergio Aguero, who recently completed his move from Manchester City to Barcelona,
also expressed his apprehensions over Brazil hosting the tournament.

“It is
clear that we are not well here (in Argentina), so that was a correct decision
by CONMEBOL. If it is difficult there (Brazil), we cannot play,” The Associate
Press quoted Aguero as saying upon his arrival in Buenos Aires.

Aguero is
among a group of Argentina players who are not comfortable with the shift to
Brazil and are hoping to stop the tournament by reaching out to players from
other national teams, according to an ESPN report.

The
tournament, which was originally scheduled for last year and delayed by 12
months due to the outbreak of the pandemic, will be now played in four
Brazilian cities – Rio de Janerio, Brasilia, Goiania and Cuiaba. Brazil will get
the tournament underway, starting their title defence on June 13 against Venezuela,
while Argentina will take on Chile a day later.